Infrared Spectrum Solar Panels

Generally speaking solar cells are capable of harnessing visible light for energy.

Infrared spectrum solar panels.

Visible light accounts for under half of the solar energy that reaches earth s surface. Researchers from uc riverside have now figured out how to upconvert infrared energy into much. A silicon cell cuts off at 1100 nm which means that it won t absorb any energy with wavelengths larger than this. Solar cell efficiencies could increase by 30 percent or more with new hybrid materials that make use of the infrared portion of the solar spectrum researchers say.

The sun emits em radiation across most of the electromagnetic spectrum although the sun produces gamma rays as a result of the nuclear fusion process internal absorption and thermalization convert these super high energy photons to lower energy photons before they reach the sun s. Most of the energy is in the visible part of the spectrum. Nearly all of the rest comes from infrared radiation. Solar panels absorb the sun s heat and generate energy.

Silicon solar panels absorb all ultraviolet light visible light and near infrared light incident on them from the sun. New technology could capture solar energy now wasted existing silicon solar panels harvest light from the visible part of the spectrum and their efficiency is improving but much of the sun s energy that reaches earth comes in the form of infrared energy. Most of the solar energy falling on earth has wavelengths of wavelengths of 250nm to 2500nm. Why uv panels are a con job.

Solar panels mostly convert visible light into electrical energy and they also can make use of almost half the infrared energy. Infrared solar cells will boost solar power by up to 25 and eventually double. But solar panels only use a small portion of ultraviolet. A research team led by hans ågren professor in theoretical chemistry at kth royal institute of technology has developed a film that can be applied on top of ordinary solar cells which would enable them to use infrared light in energy conversion and increase efficiency by 10 percent or more.

As a result the best commercial panels only convert about 20 percent of solar energy to electricity. At night if a panel is pointed toward earth then it could capture the earth s invisible infrared light. The paper claims an anti solar. The spectrum of the sun s solar radiation is close to that of a black body with a temperature of about 5 800 k.

Wouldn t it be grand if we could find a way to harvest this lost energy. They spend all day baking in the sun but that doesn t mean solar panels capture all the light that hits them.