Solar Power
The photovoltaic effect is where the uneven illumination of a material generates an electric current. This was first observed in the mid 1800s. Early photovoltaic devices were expensive, made from toxic materials, and inefficient. These early attempts at capturing solar energy, on average, converted less than 1% of the energy from the Sun into electricity.
Around the same time, in the mid 1800s, fossil fuels rose to prominence and were cheap and readily available, and more efficient than solar energy harvesting. Little progress in the development of photovoltaics was made for nearly 100 years, until a discovery at Bell Labs in the 1940s . Russel S. Ohl, a preeminent semiconductors scientist, developed a silicon-based transistor that laid the foundations for modern solar cells.
Since this milestone discovery it has taken more than 60 years for silicon-based solar cells efficiency to increase over 20%, and their cost to decrease by several hundred times. We are now at a stage where the electricity generated by silicon photovoltaic devices is cost-competitive, and in many cases more affordable, than that generated by fossil fuels.
As we drive toward accelerating the transition to a clean energy future, photovoltaic energy generation will play a central and critical role in this shift. RASEI researchers are using a range of skills and tools to explore diverse facets of scaling up solar power as a central part of the energy economy. Starting small, theoretical research on how molecules and materials generate and transmit electricity. Materials science research on how we can enhance, or even replace, silicon-based photovoltaics, with more efficient, less demanding and more affordable solar cells. Engineering approaches on accelerating the process to accelerate the optimization of the real-world reliability and efficiency of new photovoltaic materials. Assessment and analysis on how different global communities install, interact with, and maintain solar cell installation in real world deployments.
The challenges associated with the transition are multitude, to effectively address them the RASEI community is adopting a holistic, multifaceted approach.