Solar cells achieve record efficiency of 10.9%

It may sound counterintuitive that replacing one of the most photosensitive solar cell materials with a material with less desirable photosensitive properties can improve the solar cell's efficiency, but that's what scientists have shown in a new study. By replacing the highly photosensitive titanium dioxide (TiO2) with alumina (Al2O3) in a solution-processable solar cell, the researchers have achieved a record power conversion efficiency of 10.9%. They attribute this high efficiency to the Al2O3 acting as an inert scaffold, forcing the electrons to remain within and be transported through an extremely thin absorber (ETA) layer. The researchers, led by Henry J. Snaith at the University of Oxford in the UK, with coauthors from the University of Oxford, Toin University of Yokohama in Japan, and the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology in Ibaraki, Japan, have published their study on the highly efficient solar cells in a recent issue of Science Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2012-10-superstructured-solar-cells-efficiency.html#jCp