LLNL’s Materials Engineering Division (MED) has developed a PV cell based on a nanostructured plasmonic substrate with a square array of vertically-coupled nanowires coated with gold, silver, or aluminium that has an average absorbance of over 90% of both visible and infrared light.

By comparison, high-grade crystal silicon (CSi) cells lose as much as third of incoming sunlight due to reflection, and more energy still during transit to the contact wires that complete the circuit to flowelectricity  – meaning a cell with a theoretical maximum efficiency of 29% could have a conversion rate as low as 15-19%.

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