Researchers make a claim for 'most-efficient' CQD solar cell

According to a statement, researchers from Toronto University in Canada and King Abdullah University of Science & Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia created a solar cell out of inexpensive materials that was certified at a world-record 7.0 per cent efficiency.

‘Previously, quantum dot solar cells have been limited by the large internal surface areas of the nanoparticles in the film, which made extracting electricity difficult,’ said Dr Susanna Thon, a lead co-author of a letter on the research published in Nature Nanotechnology. ‘Our breakthrough was to use a combination of organic and inorganic chemistry to completely cover all of the exposed surfaces.’

Quantum dots are semiconductors only a few nanometres in size and can be used to harvest electricity from the entire solar spectrum — including both visible and invisible wavelengths. Unlike current slow and expensive semiconductor growth techniques, CQD films can be created quickly and at low cost, similar to paint or ink. This research paves the way for solar cells that can be fabricated on flexible substrates in the same way newspapers are rapidly printed.