Progress In Coatings, Almost Perfect Solar Absorption

Anyone who purchases a solar panel, each wants to reach the photon is converted into electricity. As more photons are absorbed, the more electricity is generated. But the reality is that the typical silicon solar cells today for only two thirds of the light that reaches them, while the rest is reflected.

Shawn-Yu Lin, a physics professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, has developed an anti-reflective coating (with seven layers of coating) which increases the absorption of a solar panel to almost 100%. A typical solar cell with this new coating, absorb 96.2% of the light reaching it.

Typical coatings are engineered to absorb a particular wavelength. Lin´s coating with seven layers; one above the other in a way that a layer improves the layer below.

This coating not only improves the overall efficiency of the solar panel, but it also eliminates the need to orient the panels to capture more solar energy. Reflection tends to increase as the angle of incidence moves away from the perpendicular to the panel, and that is why many panels are mounted on solar followers. But this coating removes the loss angles.

This means that traditional solar panels treated with this coating will absorb 96% of light regardless of orientation.

The questions still to be answered are about how expensive it will be to lead this progress to a commercial level; it will be a high price difference between the panels with coating and the ones without it.

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