Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory have developed a formula to differentiate the crystalline structures in different mixtures of cadmium, tellurium and selenium in support of efforts to boost solar cell efficiency.
The Energy Department-run laboratory said Wednesday Jonathan Poplawsky lead a research team that utilized microscopy techniques to find the most efficient alloy composition for solar cells which equated to 50 percent cadmium, 25 percent tellurium and 25 percent selenium.
ORNL noted the SunShot Initiative and the National Science Foundation co-funded the project that theorized the addition of an optimum amount of selenium can potentially result in an 11 percent increase in efficiency rating from its current 22 percent rate.
“This information can be used as a roadmap for solar cell producers to make improved cadmium-tellurium solar cells that use selenium additions, and hopefully increase the overall efficiency,†said Poplawsky.
