Artificial Photosynthesis: New Efficiency Record for Hydrogen Production with Silicon Solar Cells

Jülich, 27 October 2015 - Hydrogen could replace oil and natural gas in future. However, one important question is where this environmentally friendly energy carrier is supposed to come from. Jülich researchers have an answer: they have developed a multijunction solar cell made of silicon which can be manufactured comparatively cheaply and produces hydrogen directly from sunlight using the principle of artificial photosynthesis. The Jülich scientists considerably increased the efficiency of such solar modules based on silicon to achieve a total efficiency of 9.5 %. The former world record was 7.8 %. Their findings have been published in Energy & Environmental Science.

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