Researchers Increase Efficiency Of Novel “Solar Fuel Cell”

Solar cells used to develop electricity are now commonplace . But a solar mobile phone used to get fuel ? Researchershave developeda new prototype “ solar fuel cell ” , using gallium phosphide nanowires , that turns sunlight into an electrical charge and splits water to produce hydrogen all in one . They say that the novel use of goods and services of the nanowires increase the efficiency of gallium phosphide   cells by up to ten time , while at the same time using ten thousand times less of the precious metal .

This is a record for gallium phosphide cellular telephone , but you might need to concur on before you race out to make your own . The raw configuration might be ten times more efficient , but this   still only pulls it up to 2.9 % efficiency , showing that there is clearly still a recollective agency to go .

“ For the nanowires we want ten thousand [ multiplication ] less precious [ Ga phosphide ] material than in cell with a flat surface . That makes these form of cell potentially a great deal cheaper,”explainedErik Bakkers , one of the authors ofthe newspaper , published inNature Communications . “ In short , for a solar fuels next we can not disregard gallium phosphide any longer . ”

The electrical energy grow by regular solar cells can already be used for electrolysis to split up weewee and produce atomic number 1 . According to the researchers though , while it might be very effective at around 15 % , it is also very expensive . It is for this reason that they ’ve turn instead to looking at using semiconductors , such as gallium phosphide , which will both produce an electrical charge and split water at the same clock time .

Gallium phosphide has good electric property , but there are   trouble with using it in large , thin sheet . In this system , the metal is very pathetic at engross light   and so the research worker , fromEindhoven University of Technologyin the Netherlands , decided to make a grid out of the metal ,   using nanowires that measured just 90 nanometers thick and   500 millimicron long . It was this unsubdivided act that created the straightaway gist of increasing efficiency .

A mint of work still needs to be done , however , before it could compete in any meaningful way with the current Si solar cells already in mass manipulation . There are already many companies work to increase the efficiency of using even solar cells for electrolysis , and with those already at 15 % , the researchers looking at the gallium phosphide cells are already on the back foot .