Issue 1, 2012

Solar cells with one-day energy payback for the factories of the future

Abstract

Scalability is a requirement before any new energy source can be expected to house a possible solution to the challenge that mankind’s increasing energy demand presents. No renewable energy source is as abundant as the Sun and yet efficient and low-cost conversion of solar energy still has not been developed. We approach the challenge by firstly taking a technology that efficiently addresses the need for daily production of 1 GWp on a global level, which does not employ elements with critically low abundance and has a low thermal budget. We then applied life cycle assessment methodologies to direct research and developed such technology in the form of a polymer solar cell that presents a significant improvement in energy payback time (EPBT) and found that very short energy payback times on the order of one day are possible, thus potentially presenting a solution to the current energy gap of >14 TW by year 2050.

Graphical abstract: Solar cells with one-day energy payback for the factories of the future

Article information

Article type
Analysis
Submitted
22 Sep 2011
Accepted
25 Oct 2011
First published
02 Dec 2011

Energy Environ. Sci., 2012,5, 5117-5132

Solar cells with one-day energy payback for the factories of the future

N. Espinosa, M. Hösel, D. Angmo and F. C. Krebs, Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, 5, 5117 DOI: 10.1039/C1EE02728J

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