Physics World April 17, 2020
Using detailed-balance calculations researchers at the University of New York have shown that underwater solar cells can exhibit efficiencies from ∼55% in shallow waters to more than 65% in deep waters, while maintaining a power density >5 mW cm −2. They showed that the optimum band gap of the solar cell shifts by ∼0.6 eV between shallow and deep waters and plateaus at ∼2.1 eV at intermediate depths, independent of geographical location. This wide range in optimum band-gap energies opens the potential for a library of wide-band-gap semiconductors to be used for high-efficiency underwater solar cells. Their results provide a roadmap for proper choice of underwater solar cell materials, given the conditions at points of use…read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLEÂ