Major breakthrough in solar panel efficiency – what it means

• Researchers at Kyushu University in Japan have developed a new material for solar cells that utilises a "spin-flip" emitter.
• This innovative material is designed to harvest energy from sunlight that is typically lost as heat in conventional solar cells.
• The discovery enables solar cells to achieve an energy conversion efficiency of 130 per cent, surpassing previous theoretical limits.
• The technique involves a process called singlet fission, which splits higher-energy photons into two lower-energy excitons, effectively doubling the energy captured.
• Published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, this breakthrough contributes to ongoing advancements in making renewable energy more efficient and cost-effective.

IN FULL

Scientists achieve ‘impossible’ solar efficiency in renewables breakthrough