As concerns grow about peak oil and the sustainability of the world’s energy, renewable energy sources are becoming more prominent. Wind, tide, and solar power are among the possible sources of renewable energy. Dye-sensitized solar is part of a group of thin film solar cells that show promise for the future.
Why Solar Power is Growing In Popularity
Historically, solar energy has been feasible for selected applications because of its relatively low payback period. This is the time it takes for the energy savings to pay off the cost of installing the solar device. For example, solar pool heating systems generally have a short payback period, which means that they are a logical financial choice for those looking to use the sun’s energy.
As technologies improve and solar devices become more compact and less expensive to install, they become a truly viable option for homeowners. When solar technology becomes equivalent to being on the electrical grid, this is called grid parity, and this is now becoming a more realistic goal. One solar electric system that shows promise is dye-sensitized solar power.
What is Dye-Sensitized Solar Power?
Dye-sensitized solar power is an emerging solar technology. This technology has many names: DSSc, DSC, and DYSC. The solar panel system is also known as the Grätzel cell system because the solar technology was invented by Michael Grätzel and Brian O’Regan in 1991. These solar electricity panels are part of a class of electric systems called thin film solar cells.
How Do Grätzel Cells Work?
Dye-sensitized solar is a photoelectrochemical system. That’s a large word for a fairly simple concept – the systems turn sunlight into electricity using the medium of a colored dye, titanium oxide. The technique is similar to that used by plants when they use chlorophyll to turn sunlight into energy.
Affordable and Tough Solar Panel Systems
Dye-sensitized solar cells are made out of relatively inexpensive materials. Historically, solar energy has been created through materials such as silicon, but this is an expensive raw material. The technology is also hardy, which is important for something that is often mounted on the roof, where it is prone to be poked by falling branches. They are also able to generate energy quite well on cloudy days.
Thin Film Solar May Become More Efficient
In general, solar technology has been known for its inefficiency. Many solar cells only convert to energy at a rate of 15-30%, and thin film solar is particularly inefficient and has struggled to meet a 10% conversion rate. Efforts are underway to make these thin film solar cells more efficient. Researchers in Oregon have even fed titanium oxide to diatoms that then made their shells of the substance on the solar cells (Johnson, 2009). This looks like a promising technique, since the resulting solar cells were up to three times more efficient than current Gratzel cells.
Bulk Solar Panels Could Drop the Price of This Renewable Energy Source
Since these solar panel systems are less expensive to manufacture in bulk, they appear to be a promising technology despite their relative inefficiency. A company from Israel has made a breakthrough in commercial sizing of the cells, and 3GSolar hopes that the price will go down when the cells can be manufactured in bulk (Rabinovitch, 2009).
Solar Energy Education Kits
In the last decade, solar kits have become more widely available for students as young as elementary school. Students can build a solar toy car, for example. For teachers who are studying renewable energy with a class, dye-sensitized solar cells are now becoming available in kits for classroom use, so teachers can compare various solar electric systems.
Dye-sensitized solar is a solar panel technology that looks like it could be the standard for the future. These solar cells provide an inexpensive and tough alternative for commercial and household use.
Sources:
Johnson, R. Colin. April 9, 2009. Diatoms Could Triple Solar Cell Efficiency. EE Times.
Rabinovitch, Ari. Dye is Cast for Cheaper Solar Power. Calgary Herald, July 12, 2009
Tricia Edgar - Tricia Edgar is a gardener, environmental educator, and science writer from the Pacific Northwest.
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