Three-dimensional solar cells

Using zinc-oxide nanostructures grown on optical fibres and coated with dye-sensitised solar-cell materials, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a new type of three-dimensional photovoltaic (PV) system.

The approach could allow PV systems to be hidden from view and located away from traditional locations such as rooftops.

'Using this technology, we can make photovoltaic generators that are foldable, concealed and mobile,' said Zhong Lin Wang, a Regents professor in the Georgia Tech School of Materials Science and Engineering.

'Optical fibre could conduct sunlight into a building’s walls, where the nanostructures would convert it to electricity.

'This is truly a three-dimensional solar cell.'

Dye-sensitised solar cells use a photochemical system to generate electricity.

They are inexpensive to manufacture, flexible and mechanically robust, but their conversion efficiency is lower than that of silicon-based cells.