Researchers at Siberian Federal University, together with colleagues from the Royal Institute of Technology (Stockholm, Sweden), discovered new properties of material based on palladium, which can increase the performance of solar cells.
Researchers at Siberian Federal University, together with colleagues from the Royal Institute of Technology (Stockholm, Sweden), discovered new properties of material based on palladium, which can increase the performance of solar cells.
Palladium diselenide is a promising material whose properties have not yet been fully studied. For example, it was reported that its two-dimensional form can be effective in photocatalysis - the process of splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen when exposed to sunlight, which can be used to produce ecological fuel. Researchers have recently learned how to synthesize single- and double-layered versions of the PdSe2 composition, but the strengths and weaknesses of these materials remained unknown until recently. The researchers used high-precision calculation methods for the first time and managed to study the electronic and optical properties of single- and two-layer material based on palladium diselenide in detail, which, as it turned out, can absorb solar energy more efficiently than silicon-based material used in solar batteries.
“The material demonstrates higher conversion rates of solar energy into electrical energy due to a wider spectrum of energy absorption compared to silicon-based elements used today as semiconductors, and therefore can significantly increase the efficiency of solar cells. <...> Palladium diselenide (PdSe2) can be used as an independent material for solar cell elements in the construction of spacecraft and artificial Earth satellites, since the material efficiency in most cases justifies the costs in the space industry”, — says one of the researchers from Siberian Federal University Artem Kuklin.
Read more at Siberian Federal University
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