Solar PV efficiency - new breakthrough!

[@gubbool]

Well done. This video is very well done; as are many by ‘Have a think’. Of all the youTube presenters, this guy, Dave Borlace, is the best. Speech, delivery speed, and interpersonal skills are beyond reproach. Good work.

[@JustHaveaThink]

That's very kind feedback Warren. Much appreciated :-)

[@lonestarlaurel8620]

Well said, Warren Johnson. What you said, indeed! Bravo My first experience w/ justhaveathink.

[@Neilhuny]

'tis true

[@aaron_knight]

I agree, Undecided with Matt Ferrel is a really good channel too

[@morenofranco9235]

Dave. You've just made me Have A Think. This is going to result in a new business opportunity of up-grading current solar panels. Thanks, Dave.

[@stevesedio1656]

I saw a video about using a film to convert UV to light usable by PV. The benefit is UV goes through clouds, increasing generation on cloudy days. If the dots are right, this would be an additional benefit for areas with fewer sunny days.

[@rp9674]

Can you convert the frequency of light?

[@osc3892]

@@rp9674 I believe any frequency can be converted, but some of them might be prohibitedly expensive due to the required materials

[@tarant315]

How much so? I wont get sunburned on a cloudy day, or at what frequency do clouds matter?

[@stevesedio1656]

@@rp9674 Dayglow paint converts UV to the paint color. What we would need is a clear (to PV frequencies) paint that glows red under UV.

[@acasccseea4434]

i don't think the cost would work out, yeah, you still get UV on cloudy days, but not really that much, you're better off building a grid in a sunny patch and linking it up instead

[@beppeadr]

I start my passion for solar with efficiency @ less than 8%, today at the same panel size after just 25 years we are @ 24,1% efficiency. The growth in efficiency never stop and, in a short time, very amazing stuff is coming in term of efficiency. Nice talking, thank you.

[@nagualdesign]

The growth in efficiency is inevitably going to stop. You cannae change the laws o' physics! Didn't you watch the video?

[@simonupton-millard]

@@nagualdesign change no, but get round is sometimes possible

[@darkelwin02]

That attitude will likely contribute to worse climate outcomes years down the line

[@JustHaveaThink]

Sounds exciting!

[@jockmoron]

@@nagualdesign Yes I watched the video, but that Shockley limit relates to solar cells using silicon in a single configuration. Mixed materials, as envisaged here, would change the calculations used by Shockley. So a growth in efficiency of solar cells is still feasible. Multi-junction cells have already achieved efficiencies of 40% They are used in aerospace, where the cost/performance ratio is not important. For terrestrial solar power it is. If the cells are cheap, you just install more of them for more power, rather than installing more efficient, but much more expensive cells. Wiki has lots of articles about all this. The advantage of this new quantum dot technology is increasing efficiency with minimal cost. If you can increase efficiency by say 20%, and cost by 5%, it will be very useful. Still a long way to go though.

[@wrightgregson9761]

this host is perhaps the best presenter out there. Mellow voiced, easily understood, avuncular, pleasant manner

[@wayneharrison9222]

I’d agree with other contributors in saying if it could be retro fitted it would be a massive benefit, as it would appear that in a manufactured environment it adds over 50% to panel efficiency if retro fitting added 30%+ it would be huge and would provide existing PV installations with a new lease of life. 👍

[@Whereswally606]

Absolutely thinking the same thing. If its just a film which could be applied over the glass layer of the panel then i would probably happily retro fit the 15x 200w panels i have if it would make them get another 8% (30-22) it would be like getting an extra 250 watts in the same space. Plus with fit tariffs you cannot replace panels unless they are broken else you jeopardize losing the fit payments. I wonder too whether the waste heat which would maybe actually be being converted to charge might increase efficient and longevity too.

[@janami-dharmam]

@@Whereswally606 The point will be how much increase in efficiency will be seen in the field; these are basically phosphors that convert visible light to IR that can be seen by the PN junction. The phosphor must be stable and efficient otherwise you will lose a lot. The film should be applied below the glass layer close to the silicon substrate.

[@paulhaynes8045]

My thoughts as well. But I imagine it would have to be fitted under the glass to protect it, so that would probably make upgrading too expensive.

[@luipaardprint]

I don't think that will ever happen. There's no 'sticker' to put on top that will last for 20 to 25 years under direct sunlight. Apart from that the lead-selenide quantum dots they're using are highly susceptible to oxydation. The only way this could reasonably work is in high quality glass-glass sandwiched panels, where there's less oxygen ingress.

[@wayneharrison9222]

@@luipaardprint hi, good points, however if there is a commercial market to be exploited I am sure they would come up with a solution, even if they couldn’t guarantee a full timescale. These Cambridge guys certainly have the brains 🧠 👍

[@sunspot42]

Quantum dots are already heavily utilized by LCD television manufacturers so there’s extensive experience fabricating them - I think they might use a process akin to printing to make them. This is essentially using the same tech in reverse, to alter incoming light as opposed to outgoing light.

[@pattirockgarden4423]

Great!

[@IoannisNousias]

Indeed. However, the type of QD used in TVs, which is a specially brewed type of paint, might not be suitable for PVs, which need to withstand the harsh environment they operate on. Hopefully there will be some cross-pollination, with the cost reduction economies of scale provide.

[@sunspot42]

@@IoannisNousias Yes, I’d imagine that chemically the dots would need to be quite different, but hopefully the manufacturing technology will transfer over. That would potentially save a lot of time getting manufacturing up to speed and also mean it could start out at a much lower cost with some economies of scale already in place.

[@JustHaveaThink]

That's actually very encouraging

[@naveenveeravalli3478]

@@JustHaveaThink I was just about to say this.. Samsung launched a new television where the light emitting organic diode (OLED) is blue color and it is placed behind a layer of quantum dots which then convert some of the blue light into a very precise band of red and green there by creating RGB for displays and the quantum dots can be easily printed using 3D printers

[@Pianol7]

For people wondering, the reason why so many new scientific breakthroughs always stay in the realm of research is because of poor chemical and performance stablity. A lot of graphene based materials like pentacene (well, or anything with a benzene ring in it) always show really amazing results, but is always near impossible to commercialize because they instantly oxidize when exposed to air, making it practically useless. These devices have to be made in an inert N2 environment in glovebox and encapsulated, and even then air can still penetrate over time. Embedding these guys in the interlayer is our best bet since there's an additional glass to protect from oxygen/moisture. Shout out to my PbSe and PbS quantum dot boys and the photon up-conversions sisters.

[@neutrino78x]

yeah a lot of the really high performance solar panels are only useful in the vacuum of space where you're not going to have any chemical reactions with air that would degrade them (and also no exposure to water/weather).

[@debrainwasher]

There is another problem with all organic materials too: Covalent bonds of carbon atoms are too weak to withstand blue-light and UV-radiation from ordinary daylight (E=h·v). That is the reason, why organic contraptions of all sorts (but of course not limited to) are subjected to rapid degradation, when exposed to blue and UV-light, like e.g. OLED- and LCD-displays, organic fluorescent-materials for LED, etc. Consequently, all stable optical frequency conversion systems used in Laser-technology, are built from nonorganic crystals with strong, ionic bonds.

[@Pianol7]

@@debrainwasher Yep that's another hurdle for even the most stable organic molecules. Though there are ways around that like UV stabilizers, so I would count that as a solvable problem. I don't think incident blue light is a significant problem in itself, it shouldn't have sufficient energy to disrupt any bonds, though I am aware blue emitting organic molecules degrade faster, but that's more related to some non-radiative decay of the electrons within the molecule, rather than the blue light itself. Good news is, quantum dots themselves strongly absorb UV light, much more than pentacene, so it might even slow down such a degradation pathway in this specific application.

[@anoirbentanfous]

OLED solved this problem somehow

[@Pianol7]

@@anoirbentanfous Not super familiar with organic semiconductors TBH, but afaik even companies that poured big money into OLED like Samsung are switching to quantum dots. I suspect blue OLED is still less stable compared to green and red, and quantum dots. Will stand to be corrected of course.

[@EllyCatfox]

Another good reason to give the ubiquitous "promising new breakthroughs" some airtime is that it gives them more scrutiny along with the publicity, which means the ones that *are* bunk or impractical will be rooted out faster too. It's a win win, as far as I can see. (Just as long as we also remember to utilize pre-existing technologies that already work well too.)

[@inkandeve]

Too many people get "frustrated" with new concepts that have not been built at commercial, when they should be trying to "understand" instead (at least be not frustrated). Too many good ideas are not incubated because naysaying overwhelms the person who's trying to champion it. Dave... please know that I am a VERY HAPPY Patreon supporter of yours because you do give these new ideas airtime! Even if 999 out of 1000 fail... the one that succeeds will permanently move us forward. How many people were frustrated with the idea of air travel before 1903 Kittyhawk? How many people still frustrated after 1903 Kittyhawk? Their naysaying didn't stop the Wright brothers from taking flight, but I'm certain that it lost them a few years from a lack of support. Even if we do have a few years to drag our heels for the environment... we should not. Dave... LOVE the new concepts. Thanks for giving them airtime. You make my every Sunday every bit more helpful! Great Work =)

[@hmurchison8123]

Agree. What exactly do you have to lose? The product is either going to become commercially viable or not.

[@inkandeve]

@@hmurchison8123 I do not know what it is exactly, but when I make the same mistake from time-to-time... I have often found that new ideas "invalidate" my pre-existing values; thus I "feel" that I am under attack. Of course that is not the case, but suddenly I feel that I need to defend myself by attacking the new idea.

[@trueriver1950]

People who get frustrated about ideas that are still lab-scale prototypes would spend their time better watching other channels. Dave looks a long way ahead: personally I like that; if I was wanting only market-ready tech I would not subscribe here.

[@trueriver1950]

@@hmurchison8123 what do you have to lose? Investors in this company could lose their entire investment if this innovation cannot be replicated at mass production scale. Ditto any other tech that is well ahead if the curve. At the same time, they stand to make loadsamoney if it comes off. Invest equal money in ten companies; nine go bust; one goes x20: win. Most of the tech Dave covers is in that sort of probability zone, I think. When it is a win it is a win for the planet as well as for the venture capitalist; in contrast investing in oil shale is a loss for the planet whenever the investors win.

[@hmurchison8123]

@@trueriver1950 I tend to find investors are rarely vocal about technologies unless said technology represents either an economic advantage or disadvantage. I always filter a person's comments on technology by if they have skin in the game and where. It's the best compass to the truth if you do the legwork. Every disrupting technology is killing another vertical. Taxi companies not operating in large metropolitan areas are dead. I don't lament their passing ...it was time. In the end depending on how much time either of us has on Earth we all stand to win at some level.

[@atmadsen]

Just wanted to say I love your channel! Well researched...well explained...and well balanced. I have recommended your talks with many friends and they too have remarked on your fair, detailed and respectful approach. Cheers!

[@reidcushman3562]

This video is an example of why I love this channel. I don't understand but about 10% of the technology (sorry, I'm a social scientist) but I get a lot of hope for the future here.

[@hugegamer5988]

Whoa whoa whoa there. I think we are all missing the bigger picture here. You could put this polymer sheet over window glass and not only trap more heat for heating, but the world would look brilliantly rosy!

[@Teddystream.]

I worked with a retired Military Radar Engineer who Borrowed some of my technical books and patented a number of devices for DeLorian cars one of which was a fog detector which he patented in the early 1980's, in the early 2000's when the Patent expired a Japanese Company repeated his original patent published data to apply for a patent for a Solid state version of the same or slightly altered version of it for the use in Vehicles. The technical data contained in the Expired Patents may be of use. I hope they find this useful good luck.

[@uncas19typhoon]

Inefficiency in a system has never been a limiting factor for the internal combustion engine, so why should it prevent the uptake in solar power? There has always been a limited resource, and limited access to that resource with regards to fossil fuel, but that is not true with regards to solar. If we compare the timelines for the evolution of the two different technologies, solar and fossil fuels, solar seems to be advancing at a lightning like pace comparatively. So by all means increase efficiency, but it is no excuse for the lack of adaption, or the slow acceptance. Thanks for your work David.

[@gilesgoldsbro5816]

I agree. Governments should be pushing the existing technology as fast as possible, not impeding it, as the Californian government seems bent on doing right now. If every rooftop had a few solar panels, installed with help from the various stimulus funds in place around the world, in a year or so, suddenly the power generation picture would be much brighter.

[@jockmoron]

Apt analogy. Thanks.

[@rogerphelps9939]

Although sunlight is not a limited resource the land on which to site solar panels certainly is. Therefore anything that increases the efficiency is welcome.

[@yodab.at1746]

I don't have much useful stuff to add, but my solar system is one of the best things I have, and I literally travel by sunlight.. I love it 😁

[@ikenosis8160]

Hahahaha Love this comment. Well said. 😂👍🏼☀️✨

[@jbird6609]

Me too, also electric bikes, rototiller, snow blower and latest- electric riding lawn mower that i built. Next is geo thermal heat and cooling.

[@JustHaveaThink]

Good for you :-)

[@mas13ish1]

That is pretty fantastic! A simple technology that can add new capability to existing products.

[@matthewsaxe6383]

The intrinsic hope of your narration is fantastic. Keep doing what you're doing.

[@JustHaveaThink]

Thanks, will do!

[@Jay...777]

Where there's a will there's a Watt. Get the batteries out lads and let's get on with it.

[@tksacchi]

Yup i am hoping ambri batteries to be successful as soon as possible

[@Jay...777]

@@tksacchi Yeah, me too. It's been a slow climb. US military budget close to a trillion bucks but shucks, just cant seem to find a dime for Ambri.

[@artboymoy]

People who criticize the channel about new ideas that haven't gone to scale, should really read the title of the channel... If this technology can be proven to increase efficiency, then it's a great idea to see where it can be implemented at the various stages of production.

[@SirenaWF1]

I sort of just graduated from uni with a BSCPE /EE and for my senior project I had to learn a lot about silicon doping as used it PV applications to power an autonomous scaled down car.

[@trueriver1950]

How about retrofit? "Wallpapering" existing solar farms with the magic film to increase production by maybe 20% to 50% of the original spec. Of course the infrastracture (inverters, grid hookups, etc) would have to be scaled up to take full advantage; without that at the best times for solar illumination the panels would have to be turned down so as not to overload the weakest link. However even without upgrading the infrastructure on cloudy days, or early/late in the day, the farm would get more power out of the weak light

[@Techmagus76]

Great news and exciting how much progress is still made in the field of solar power.

[@icare7151]

Collaboration through your videos great things are happening. The film is an capture and amplifier of current lost energy of today’s best technology. The holy grail is 80%+ efficiency. Hybrid design is likely the key to achieving this goal.

[@pcrengnr1]

So, if I take this correctly then this film acts similarly to a concentrating PV. For a given cell or panel area more light is directed at it. A long while ago IBM created & patented a system where the long wavelength IR heat was used directly alongside the shorter PV wavelengths. Combining this film which can down convert higher frequency light to usable PV frequency light with the IBM long IR wavelength heat energy would produce PVs with the most possible photon capture of any cell/panel to date. I love it that this film can be applied post production. This will be a major turning point for PVs. I look foward to the results and application of this new film. Dave, thx for sharing the video.

[@jeevannagarkar1749]

It would be fantastic if this technology goes through

[@ApresSavant]

This is a nice update to an old question: how do we shift the energy at other wavelengths into the optimal absorption bands? Clearly changes to materials, surfaces, internal structures, even making them more transparent so you can do multiple layers, have all been tried at some level. This one is interesting as it potentially extends the life of existing sub-20% efficient panels, which keeps them in use a bit longer. Ultimately, even the atmosphere works against us in the IR bands, so there are dimensions to this optimization problem we have not even explored.

[@pullingweeds]

Sounds very promising. I hope this does make it to production.

[@antonnym214]

Exciting stuff, and that small percentage gain of course will multiply over every installation and have a substantial effect. I agree it should be talked about even before the prototype stage. All good wishes!

[@sabeerkibria9194]

While 35% or even 31% might not seem like a big number, compared to the average solar instalation which has an efficiency of 19-21%, this represents 1.67x the production of electricity. That means you need 6/10ths the space in order to produce the same amount of electricity. That's a massive deal provided the film is able to be used to be retrofitted, the cost is somewhat low and it has a sufficient lifespan.

[@pattirockgarden4423]

Thank you for the many exciting developments coming down the pipe. If only the investors & government would get on board. 🙏

[@JustHaveaThink]

Indeed!

[@charlesbouldin3087]

No electrical connections needed, good. The simplicity is nice. Long term stability is a huge question. Also, the reemission of photons will be isotropic, so that cuts the light from the PbSe dots that reaches the panel by a factor of two. Still, after band gap tuning and multi-junctions cells, this is a new idea. It will be interesting to see how well it works.

[@LargeBricks]

Great video! Even if this promising tech never reaches a consumer pruduct state it's always educational to give a recap of PV basic principles.

[@makeitcold6649]

Always good to know there's more options to get us net zero and now I've got something to look forward to in Q4. As cheap non-lithuim energy storage comes online it will be impressive to watch it matched to panels they keep improving. I look forward to a slap-on coating that makes my panels able to power my house and the houses on either side of me!

[@twsteele1977]

That sounds similar to how xray imaging works.. high energy photons strike a phosphor sheet that absorbs them and releases a lower energy photon in the visible light spectrum.. definitely one of those ideas that sounds obvious once you hear it, but of course hind sight is 20/20.. exciting, and makes me wonder if one day we'll have films that convert ultraviolet light too, or even higher energy photons for use in space

[@seanajacobs]

This is literally what I did my masters thesis in. Nice video

[@Scrogan]

Consider a diffraction grating, with PV junctions suited to a range of different wavelengths situated beneath the right part of the grating. Will probably never be cost effective for mass solar farms, but it’s an interesting thought.

[@hyric8927]

It'd be interesting to see this film applied to glass to literally see its effect. Blue objects viewed through this film might appear bright red.

[@duanecjohnson]

That would be the implication, however, you would not actually be able to "see" the object as the exit photons would be a scattered direction. redrok

[@Mekuso8]

@@duanecjohnson to be more precise, blue object would appear to sort of glow in a blurry red light.

[@clivestainlesssteelwomble7665]

@@Mekuso8 An analogy might be the difference in light quality between a cool led spectrum bulb and a warm spectrum bulb... 🤔

[@crackedemerald4930]

I think it redshifts it too much, but if it works with even higher frequency like UV you'd probably notice something strange

[@jamiearnott9669]

Excellent video and I appreciate taking a look into any applied scientific/technology solutions with an open mind. So quantum dots are nanomaterial/nanotechnology that utilizes quantum mechanics to boost the efficiency of photovoltaics. Well I hope the team in Cambridge are successful as we all need real 4th industrial revolution to deal with energy and climate sustainability. ;-) Nanomaterials are fascinating and of interest to me on the side as an amateur. I'm already using fullerenes to clean my water and as an insurance/wildcard against any potential long term effects of microwaves. On water purification I think of this nanomaterial as more efficient than activated charcoal. As you must all know on this channel we are all exposed to nano/micro plastics, industrial chemicals that are now ubiquitous in our environs. I think nanomaterials could provide many applied scientific and technological means to deal with energy and sustainability issues humanity faces 21st century, for sure ;-)

[@lorddorker3703]

I am living off grid and use pv as my main power source. This would be great to generate more power. I wonder how it would improve cloudy days or snow.

[@clivestainlesssteelwomble7665]

As its essentially converting the UV end of the spectrum to a longer wave lengths energy. So yes particularly if you could harness the increased levels of surface reflected light in those conditions. But that depends on the type of your existing panels 🤔 single or dual sided and /or their precise location and orientation. So I think the answer would be yes but how much you would have to experiment with to find out.🤷🏻‍♂️ Meantime keeping the backs of existing panels cooler is possible now and boosts both performance and life span.

[@newrenewableenergycontrol5724]

Just Have a Think. Love your stuff! Most non scientific people, and some scientific people really do not understand the concept of 'lab brainstorming.' This is kind of what they do on these type of communications. We are not talking about these things in planning actually, but giving the scientists an opportunity to brain storm solutions. Its like imagining a target just starting to come into view. It simply needs a little more time. An example is two friends named Igor Sikorsky and Henry Ford. Two researchers having a brain storming session as friends. Ivan mentioned having a problem getting mechanics to hold together in his tail rotor design. Henry says, look at our real axle differential. That is how we solved the problem!' And Igor's tail rotor torque transfer problem was solved! Our cars looked kind of funny for a while. Now our solar panels look a bit funny, but we ain't done yet! Ye of little faith!

[@philipwells2793]

Thank you for that. Fingers crossed it works well.

[@philliplamoureux9489]

This has excellent prospects to transform the simple absorption and re-emission at a longer wavelength idea into a functional product reality!

[@ProjectNarrowboat]

A product for fitting to existing panel would be awesome. I've got over a kw of solar on my boat already and i just love it.

[@Jakereckner]

This innovation would be an ideal addition to all panels as an upgrade. This may benefit the solar sphere design I have been seeing more of.f. not to mention the translucent panels that have big marketing opportunities

[@RWBHere]

Thanks. 🙂👍 The Lead Selenide in that layer sounds as though presents an environmental challenge. I hope that something much less toxic can be used.

[@williamarmstrong7199]

I have for years been wondering why fluorescent materials have not been used to convert UV radiation into visible light that the panel can use. This development is a no brainer and should really boost solar panel efficency.

[@HansLemurson]

I _think_ it's because these quantum dots can work on yellow, green, and blue light, not just UV. But that is a good question.

[@christheswiss390]

It would be fabulous if these guys succeeded!

[@martinross5521]

Thank you for the super clear explanation and encouraging update for the near future… I’d love to see photons undergo conversion therapy

[@JustHaveaThink]

Thanks Martín. Much appreciated.

[@marzymarrz5172]

Looking forward to steady improvements in solar panel efficiency!

[@kevinfisher7032]

This is a very similar concept to one that printers are familiar with. Dayglo ink: it’s the brightly colored ink that works by converting ultra violet light into visible light…if I’m not mistaken the active ingredient is Quinine…and is sometimes used in laundry detergent for the same effect...BTW always great video's!

[@haroldwood1394]

This seems to have wonderful possibilities within a genuinely short time. I'd love to think that Australia, which once seemed to honour scientific advancements almost as much as it would, say, a bronze medal winner in curling, might support such an enterprise, since per capita it contributes so much to global warming via its coal exports.

[@louisdiedricks7110]

If you live in the US, your Australia insinuation is comparable to the pot calling the kettle black.

[@Aermydach]

Ahhh hahahahahaha! Australia take responsibility for its exported emissions!? You're funny. Btw, I'm an Aussie disgusted and ashamed by our Nobility in Federal Politics.

[@Jake12220]

That's an incredibly stupid argument to make, its like blaming Toyota for a hit and run. Australia exports a product because there is a demand for it, if Australia doesn't export the product then the demand will still exist and another country will fill the order(likely Indonesia or Brazil being the next biggest coal exporters). Also worth pointing out that Australia has the highest per capita production of solar power and is by far the world's biggest producer of lithium without which the electric revolution wouldn't be possible.

[@haroldwood1394]

@@Jake12220 Let's call it a statement made out of frustration, Matt. I believe that Australia has failed to adequately support crucial industries like renewables since at least the Hawke era, despite the warnings of Barry Jones and John Button. I am surprised by the claim that 'Australia has the highest per capita production of solar power'; I would have thought that Germany is well ahead, but I would be pleased to be wrong: what is your source of that information? I do disagree about the issue regarding coal, believing that we need to reduce both our dependency on it as an income source, and our readiness to avoid the damage that it does. Kind regards.

[@haroldwood1394]

@@Aermydach I couldn't agree more (which was the point of my comment). I seem to remember a claim by Josh Frydenburg that Australia might have a 'moral obligation' to sell coal to India and therefore for the Adani contract to go ahead. It's hard to believe that he cared mainly for Indians forced to burn substances more toxic than Australian coal. Best regards

[@mariushegli]

I have nothing to say really, but I appreciate your content, and wish to help with the yt-algorithms.

[@FGhareeb]

Good video. One small comment on (2:30): n-type and p-type silicon are not actually negatively or positively charged respectively. This is a common misconception. They are both actually electrically neutral. The "n" and "p" refer to the polarity of the majority charge carrier in each layer, i.e. n-type silicon is called n-type because electrons, which are negatively charged, do the conduction, whereas in p-type, the carrier that conducts current is positive "holes". The layer itself has no overall charge.

[@jonwolgamott6857]

Very interesting. Assuming the QD's don't interact with the other wavelengths this is very ingenious. However, they still can't "control" the direction the new energy photon goes in so you're not collecting 100%, or even 50% of this new wavelength, but still an improvement for what is essentially just a single step to add a new film layer.

[@oldwaysrisingfarm]

I see a lot of comments about retrofitting/upgrading existing panels, and while not impossible, there is a big challenge there. Quantum dots are usually made of toxic materials and their performance can be impacted by the presence of water vapor--I don't know enough about the specifics of this individual system to know if it would be a major problem, but is a problem for many similar technologies. Now, this is a solvable problems inside an already well sealed solar panel system (difficult, this is the same sort of thing holding perovskite cells back), but it is hard to imagine a system that would be sufficiently well sealed and easily applied by an end user that would not involve lots of adhesives--and adhesives are prone to UV breakdown and yellowing which harms efficiency in other ways. Not impossible, but something that would lag well behind implementation of a fully sealed commercial unit. Now, all of that being said--I am not a "naysayer", and I believe the next big breakthrough in solar tech will have something to do with quantum dots, it is the lowest hanging of all the high hanging fruit. Also, I love solar tech, my wife and I live on an off-grid farm!

[@mortimerhasbeengud2834]

Name your poison, Farm. Oxford Solar seals their cells and are supposed to lost 30 years to contain the perovskite degrading. We haven't got fission safe enough, we don't have geothermal good enuf so it doesn't cause minor quakes, and count on the greens to howl about floater wind turbines in the sea? What'dya recommend for us serfs as a fix? Ciao. Or in my case Chow!

[@oldwaysrisingfarm]

@@mortimerhasbeengud2834 That is exactly what I was saying, they work, but have to be factory sealed and that does not allow for easy retrofit for existing panels. The tech is good, but not easy to change.

[@solosailorsv8065]

Solar "costs" are HALF...if you do it yourself and don't connect to the grid (which is the GOAL in the first place) we went 100% PV 25 years ago and "efficiency" was good enough ! (same PVs running now with no problems at all) Smart people don't need 30% efficiency OR hand-outs to do the right thing

[@mbcrenewables]

Great information, delivered expertly. This is certainly an interesting development, I hope as an industry we can monetise this tech

[@Yanquetino]

Just here for the thumbs up; already hearted this in Patreon, Dave.

[@Barskor1]

Converting UV into the lower spectrum has other uses such as windows in cold climates would then warm up the house during the day.

[@maartenvaneerden6602]

Great video! Hope this technology delivers its promise! The explanation of basic solar cell operation is unfortunately not quite correct, however. Doping by itself does not make a material charged. At a junction between p- and n-type materials, the free electrons from the n-type diffuse towards the p-type material, and vice versa for holes from p-type to n-type. That leaves a region of positive (!) charge in the n-type material and negative charge in the p-type material, called the depletion or space charge region. In this depletion region, an electric field is present that drives electrons towards the n-type material and holes towards the p-type material, facilitating the production of current. However, this electric field is not critical or always necesarry for a solar cell to operate, since especially in silicon cells, the depletion region (where the electric field is) is only a small fraction of the whole solar cell. To me, the most intuitive and simple way to look at a solar cell is as a layer that absorbs light and creates free electrons and holes, sandwiched by so-called 'selective contacts', layers that only allow either electrons or holes to pass. By diffusion a current can then flow, in principle even without electric field. There are multiple ways to achieve selective contacts and a pn-junction is one of them, since the conductivity of electrons is much much much higher than the conductivity of holes in the n-type material, while the conductivity of holes is much higher than the conductivity of electrons in the p-type material, so essentially the charges can only flow one way. Sorry for the long and technical story.

[@terrystephens1102]

Another very exciting potential improvement for solar panels 😃👌👏👏👌

[@martyschrader]

What you are describing is a transducer. The matrix absorbs high frequency photons and re-emits that energy as low-frequency photons. Lasers, masers, and even loudspeakers all do the same thing -- convert energy from one form to another. This will be a valuable incremental improvement in solar technology. Not an earth-shattering wonder-widget, mind you, Just Another Improvement in how our energy harvesting technology works.

[@lorenzoventura7701]

I'd be curious to see if this kind of magic film, applied to my head, could make my hair grow again

[@toddlerj102]

🤣🤣🤣🤣 I'd buy myself a roll if it did!

[@jamesgrover2005]

I'd also like to see it applied to your head👍

[@massivecumshot]

No, but rub a chia pet on your head That might help.

[@JustHaveaThink]

I wish!! :-)

[@davidmarkmann6098]

Super informative. Thanks.

[@JoeLambert1000]

Very interesting - as ever. For the record Hans Queisser’s name is correctly pronounced “ Kwaiser” (as in the the Bridge on the River .....). Great guy - knew him well.

[@srpenguinbr]

This is very exciting! It's one of those ideas that sound obvious once you hear them. Quantum dots are already being added to high end TVs, so it seems like the technology already exists, it just needs some tweaking. We'll wait and see how it goes cost and durability-wise.

[@danvendeta2916]

Thank you I always really appreciate your view of future technologies

[@willm5814]

Imagine scientists working really hard right now, trying to get the panel design up to 24% from 23%, then finding out this technology will bump things up to 31% - that is a 35% improvement!!! I think all the people working to optimize the current design can switch over to designing this breakthrough idea 😉

[@prioris55555]

silicon perovskyte hybrid will get at least 29% efficiency with only 10% manufacture cost increase. they will explode on the market by 2024.

[@danielgmur6486]

These things always happen incremental. One step at a time. Don't expect the first generation to be a 30% relative increase. Maybe a 1-5% relative increase in the first generation then slowly going up until it's fully matured in 10 - 20 years for the first implementation at scale.

[@benburris4735]

Since it adds onto the base PV layer, the 1% increase would able to capture the converted light more efficiently than the initial 23%, so their improvement still counts.

[@jockmoron]

@@danielgmur6486 Exactly, every now and then there's a paradigm shift, but otherwise incremental improvements rule the day.

[@someonespotatohmm9513]

The idea isn't new. Its not my field but even I encountered it during what little i had in material science. its likely that it is/was not practical.

[@wineberryred]

It would be good to find out if this film could be used on existing panels to make them more efficient.

[@michoxi]

Putting in on without further efficiency loss would need extremely clean surfaces, so this would probably need basically a mobile mini factory that cleans, polishes, cleaned again, places the layer + another protective layer (which increases absorption) on the panel. Of course if that can increase efficiency by 5% It could be worthwhile on large and young PV farms but i doubt it would be cost effective on roof panels or smaller assemblies

[@cinemaipswich4636]

So the new film slows down high energy waves into slower ones. Very neat. Have those particles bounce around, like a pin ball game, until they slow down to a usable wavelength. The nano-scopic spaces between the dots need to be spaced in a regular way to cause this tunneling effect.

[@SaveMoneySavethePlanet]

While it would be cool to have better efficiency, 30% is still plenty. With only 30% efficiency we’re still able to meet the world’s energy demands with a very small portion of our land dedicated to solar. Tech like this will be more necessary in 300 years if our energy growth still continues completely unchecked.

[@KiltedSatyr]

I hope this layer can be applied retroactively as well. So everyone who has panels not nearing their end of life can just have the layer applied and presumably have their energy infrastructure beefed up a bit to handle the extra power. Like my parents just installed a solar array in late fall 2021. It would be great if in 10 years or so, when this technology is hopefully commercially available, to be able to pump the effectiveness of the panels up into the 30% range

[@rodriguezahr]

My thoughts as well. That would be amazing.

[@garymccallum4152]

I previously submitted a provisional patent application for a solar panel that offered a structural element for North American style wood frame construction, provided hot water, cooled the PV panels raising the electrical generation efficiency, it would be the waterproof roofing material and additionally hot air could be extracted. After a year of searching for backers or investors I gave up on the project. Engineers, Architects and people working in the technical fields of solar all told me it was brilliant but not an investor could be found. I contacted every solar company I could find on the interned. This was during the Obama Solar Sun shot initiative where companies were getting two million bucks for a roof ballast system. The whole project could of been set up for that amount. It amazed me that the US military had no interest as it would of been beneficial for field hospitals, speeding erection then providing electricity and hot water immediately after set up. To late for myself and a patent but I still wish it was an available product. It would of been used on the last house I built.

[@ericthecyclist]

Saw a company advertising that type of system over 15 years ago. They called it a hybrid panel. They actually managed to get electricity from the heat, but you need a source of cool water.

[@liamredmill9134]

Amazing,just come from a the spherical solar tech show,worth a look also

[@Kevin_Street]

Thank you for another great video. This film seems like a good idea, particularly if it's a fairly simple way to modify PV panels that increases the amount of sunlight they can use. Multi junction cells might be theoretically more efficient, but that doesn't matter much if their complexity makes them too expensive for mass production. If this idea just involves making some sort of film with quantum dots and then applying it during the normal PV production process it could be much cheaper.

[@patrickmckowen2999]

Great topic 👍 Yes, frustrating to hear just about far off potentials, but word has to get out there what is in the wings. Cheers

[@JustHaveaThink]

Cheers Patrick

[@liamredmill9134]

A bright concept for the new year,nice one

[@donutemptycircle8717]

Dave, like the ambassador, you are spoiling us with good news! I am so optimistic I now expect to win the lottery and date Miss World next week. It's all going wrong for me, I tells ya!

[@JustHaveaThink]

:-) Keep it together Donut.

[@Muppetkeeper]

Aggggh, 2025 again, I hope I last that long, EVERYTHING will be ready by then, liquid air, solid state batteries, the ID.Buzz and carbon capture! Great video, I'm hoping for a retrofit film for my panels too.

[@davidaustin6962]

3:00 - Close, but no cigar (and a common misunderstanding when it comes to solar device physics). When the N-P junction forms (at the factory) the electrons and their holes respectively satisfy this attraction right at the junction layer and create an electromagnetic barrier where a layer of electrons all bunched up on one side and layer of holes all bunch up on the other side of the junction is sandwiched, which is called a depletion zone. As a result, as a whole (when the panel is in use) this depletion zone establishes a barrier which offsets that attraction for the electron-hole pair from the P-type and N-type regions, so in the field this "attraction" does *not* exist for electrons (and their holes) liberated by sunlight. Rather, overcoming that barrier (depletion zone) is a function of the direction and energy at which the electron is ejected from it's hole, as well as the mean time where the electron (and hole) exist and float around the crystal lattice until they either cross that barrier (thereby creating electricity) or recombine with another hole or electron (in which case that energy is lost). The adverse effect of that barrier, as well as the tendency for the electron-hole (or e-h) pair to recombine constitutes the mechanism behind the shockley-queisser limit exists. Minimizing those two adverse events are how we get closer to that limit of 30% for a single junction solar cell.

[@kiae-nirodiariesencore4270]

Thanks for another high quality and educational video. Any new technology that reduces our dependence on fossil fuels is always exciting but we know that whatever we buy today will look old hat tomorrow. We went cold turkey on fossil fuel powered cars in 2019 and have owned our EV for almost 3 years now. We would never go back to an ICE powered car but already ours is looking old tech in terms of charging speeds of the battery. Along with the car we put up 8 solar panels which I bought myself + 2 inverters and got an electrician friend to install them on our barn roof. Each panel was 300 Wp and last year those 8 panels generated enough electricity to drive 15,000 km...so this week I am putting up 3 more, each panel for the same price per panel is now 375 Wp...progress I guess. This should cover off all our driving needs and some. Investing in home generation and an electric car cuts recurring costs hugely so in my view its just best to jump in ASAP to get the benefits.

[@JustHaveaThink]

Good on you sir! Hope you're all well :-)

[@maynardjohnson3313]

Of course I should read before I write as there is plenty of interesting stuff below. I remember hearing about non-imaging optics, if you've seen plexiglass with florecent dye, how bright the edge is, if one were to array PV cells along the edge tuned to that wavelength.

[@GhostFS]

It's not so mind melting, made my master thesis on this and worked in a spinoff trying to "save the world" with that in my younger days :D. To make it super simple: 1) You material have a characteristic step of energy named gap, it can convert efficiently only photons with an energy equal to that gap. Photons kick an electron up to this energy step. 2) If not separated (as it happens in a PV panel) the electron hole pair created this way will recombine, with the electron falling down the same step and emitting a photon of that energy. 3) So immagine to have a wide gap material that can convert high energy electrons that have an "intermediate band" a step inside the gap, this can be obtained with quantum dot. Than you can absorb the high energy electron, let them fall back down, but not in one single step but two smaller steps, that will cause the emission of two photon of smaller energy ready to be absorbed by silicon. However easier said than done. To make a material that is be able to do this, and that can be produced in an industrial process, with appropriate cost is difficult. Fact is... that we can make those material only for now they cost too much. So it's useless increase the efficiency from 20% to 30% but at triple cost... as with the same money you can build 3 traditional solar pannels and you produce double the energy with the same money. That the reason why we have multijunction solar cell capable of even 47% efficiency but we use them only for space application :D

[@sic1038]

Very promising. Cheers Dave

[@aslkbgh]

I don't know if anyone has written a similar comment here, but such an additional layer could potentially upgrade massive quantities of existing solar arrays, by having the film manufactured as a glass panel to upgrade existing solar panels. It would require an operation on site as if installing a new array(maybe a shorter and cheaper operation), the alternatives being buying new panels or leaving the array as is.(Future economics at play)

[@ratnakarsuryavanshi2437]

Another engineer from AP, India did research in America to utilize heating effects frame of solar panels . The heat is used to get hot water as a byproduct.

[@rajeshchheda456]

Thanks Dave for another enlightening video.

[@JustHaveaThink]

Thanks Rajesh. Glad you liked it :-)

[@youxkio]

Hello Dave. I guess I would still bet my expectations on the multi-layer solar cell research. I know it is more expensive, but we can also see that the chances for higher efficiency are higher.

[@piersdowell832]

I'd be very interested to see if this technology develops to the point where it can be retro fitted to existing installations?

[@ericthecyclist]

People have been talking about putting quantum dots on solar panels to down-shift the short wave length light for ages. What isn't clear to me is the direction of the photos emitted from the quantum dots. If half the emitted photons are in a direction away from the panel, converting one green photon to a two red photons doesn't result in any more energy, though it might keep the panel cooler.

[@rjhayward1]

If it works, the flexible ways it can be implemented will go a long way to technology adoption.

[@Myrddnn]

Something about that limit has always bugged me in a way I couldn't identify, until watching the video here. I'm a retired electronics guy, so an efficiency of 25-30% is just ridiculously bad. If the problem is that the higher wavelengths are only currently heating everything up, wouldn't that excess heat be producing all sorts of IR radiation that CAN be absorbed by the panel? Why should it be necessary to use a film if all that should be needed is another layer of the cell beneath the first, absorbing ALL of that IR? I mean, the film IS a great idea and all, but has anyone ever tried the second layer idea? If you can explain this, I would greatly appreciate it. Your channel is one of the more interesting and watchable ones on KZbin. Thanks for sharing.

[@synocrat601]

Maybe we should just embrace the heat produced and chain it up with a heat pump or stirling generator or district heating system of some sort?

[@Myrddnn]

@@synocrat601 That's another thing that can be done with excess heat. And a good idea as well. I've always wondered why our "scientists" keep saying that we could detect a Dyson Sphere/Swarm by the excess IR it would HAVE to emit. Why? Why could they not use all of that in any of the ways we already know how to do?

[@synocrat601]

@@Myrddnn I've always thought any halfway sensible Dyson sphere or swarm civilization is either venting serious waste heat in tight beam laser or microwave laser to the nearest stars to avoid detection. I also think a lot of other civilizations have realized they don't require trillions of population units to keep their civilization going.

[@Myrddnn]

@@synocrat601 Both are good points.

[@shawnr771]

A natural gas fired power plant is only about 37 percent efficient.

[@Tumbleweed5150]

It would be wonderful if they came up with a film one could add over current solar panels to achieve this effect, in addition to putting it on new panels!

[@MmmM-mf3zd]

Amazing, as always clever science people doing the best

[@danberm1755]

Thin film flexible panels will allow you to roll PV out like carpet cheaply 😁 Also, thermal solar + PV + sky cooling panel hybrid will bring a thermal to electric element to solar panels. In other words lots of potential progress in store 😁 Seems like may be another decade of 80% price drops!

[@penumbraman99]

Decades ago, I read a short article on possible future promising technology. It graded the list items by the probability of it happening and the impact it will would have. It graded the development of quantum solar cells as very high on both it happening and it having a major impact. They stated that solar panels could “theoretically”, using quantum effects, have an efficiency of 60%. Since then, after the discovery of how to make graphene, it has been stated that solar panels using graphene, could “theoretically” have a 60% efficiency. If they could produce a reliable, inexpensive, solar panel with 60% efficiency, we would very quickly go into the solar energy age. My small roof wants those solar panels! I would buy into solar panels for my house if that happens!

[@jamesrapp9778]

Very interesting. Cheers for the video 😎 👌

[@JustHaveaThink]

Cheers James. Much appreciated

[@ger5956]

Don’t forget to like and comment to appease the almighty algorithm 😁❤️👍🏻

[@rickrys2729]

Promising that a simple? film added to existing PV manufacturing could boost efficiency. Seems worth watching to see if they can actually build something that works for a reasonable price.

[@amb8274]

The Infinite Power cell works like a solar panel but instead of using the sun as its source it uses a radioisotope - Europium-152 to be exact. Put the 'solar' panel in a box with Europium and it generates electricity 24/7 for years with no emissions and barely any maintenance. I think the first commercial factory is due to open this year in the UK with its existing R&D site in Cumbria.

[@ClearerThanMud]

Interesting. So does this also reduce the temperature of the panels, since photons that were generating heat are now producing electricity? And doesn't that mean a better lifespan for the PV cells?

[@Kevin_Street]

That would appear to follow, yes. But the amount of heat reduction may or may not be significant depending upon the local conditions of the panel. That seems like the sort of thing that could be explored with experimentation.

[@clivestainlesssteelwomble7665]

The problem seems its converting the cooler blue UV spectrum to the useable visible and IR. end so more heat will also result🤔 sounds like a case for hybrid PVT panels if using existing cell chemistrys.

[@23bassmate]

@@clivestainlesssteelwomble7665 The UV spectrum has higher energy (shorter wavelength means higher energy; check Planck's relation). Hence it is the UV part of the spectrum that causes more heating. But independently of what part of the spectrum you absorb, the more you absorb and convert it to current, the less you will cause heating. It's simply a matter of conservation of energy. If more electrical energy is yielded, then this results in a reduction of thermal energy.

[@mordecaisackett9421]

@@23bassmate Exactly! If say, half of the total UV light was converted to normal red spectrum to produce more electricity then there would be an equal decrease in how much heat was produced as a result of heating effects from UV light. The real question is how efficient is the film at converting the UV light into normal red 'usable' light? In any case, this is obviously an avenue that needs to be explored since this method piggy-backs on all previous methods for PV systems and can simply be 'added' to normal photovoltaic construction techniques for more power and longer life (they will operate at lower temperatures=longer life). This is a win/win to any competent engineer.

[@clivestainlesssteelwomble7665]

@@23bassmate I understand what your saying but with even a best figure of 35% that still leaves too much not being converted.. I would want to test it in situ probably on top of a Catamaran in full summer exposure 😉 because thats one of the best places ive come across to kill solar panels.