Regulating Electron 'Spin' May Be Key to Making Organic Solar Cells Competitive

ScienceDaily, Aug 7, 2013

This is the laser set-up used to to make

 the actual measurements reported in the

paper. (Credit: Dr. Akshay Rao)

Organic solar cells, a new class of solar cell that mimics the natural process of plant photosynthesis, could revolutionise renewable energy -- but currently lack the efficiency to compete with the more costly commercial silicon cells.

At the moment, organic solar cells can achieve as much as 12 per cent efficiency in turning light into electricity, compared with 20 to 25 per cent for silicon-based cells.

Now, researchers have discovered that manipulating the 'spin' of electrons in these solar cells dramatically improves their performance, providing a vital breakthrough in the pursuit of cheap, high performing solar power technologies.

The study, by researchers from the Universities of Cambridge and Washington, is published today in the journal Nature, and comes just days after scientists called on governments around the world to focus on solar energy with the same drive that put a man on the moon, calling for a "new Apollo mission to harness the sun's power."

Organic solar cells replicate photosynthesis using large, carbon-based molecules to harvest sunlight instead of the inorganic semiconductors used in commercial, silicon-based solar cells. These organic cells can be very thin, light and highly flexible, as well as printed from inks similar to newspapers -- allowing for much faster and cheaper production processes than current solar cells.

But consistency has been a major issue. Scientists have, until now, struggled to understand why some of the molecules worked unexpectedly well, while others perform indifferently.

Researchers from Cambridge's Cavendish Laboratory developed sensitive laser-based techniques to track the motion and interaction of electrons in these cells. To their surprise, the team found that the performance differences between materials could be attributed to the quantum property of 'spin'.

'Spin' is a property of particles related to their angular momentum, with electrons coming in two flavours, 'spin-up' or 'spin-down'. Electrons in solar cells can be lost through a process called 'recombination', where electrons lose their energy -- or "excitation" state -- and fall back into an empty state known as the "hole."

Researchers found that by arranging the electrons 'spin' in a specific way, they can block the energy collapse from 'recombination' and increase current from the cell.

"This discovery is very exciting, as we can now harness spin physics to improve solar cells, something we had previously not thought possible. We should see new materials and solar cells that make use of this very soon" said Dr. Akshay Rao, a Research Fellow at the Cavendish Laboratory and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, who lead the study with colleagues Philip Chow and Dr. Simon Gélinas.

The Cambridge team believe that design concepts coming out of this work could help to close the gap between organic and silicon solar cells, bringing the large-scale deployment of solar cells closer to reality. In addition, some of these design concepts could also be applied to Organic Light Emitting diodes, a new and rapidly growing display technology, allowing for more efficient displays in cell phones and TVs.

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"Recalibration of Knowledge" – Jan 14, 2012 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: Channelling, God-Creator, Benevolent Design, New Energy, Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Reincarnation, Gaia, Old Energies (Africa,Terrorists, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela ... ), Weather, Rejuvenation, Akash, Nicolas Tesla / Einstein, Cold Fusion, Magnetics, Lemuria, Atomic Structure (Electrons, Particles, Polarity, Self Balancing, Magnetism, Higgs Boson), Entanglement, "Life is necessary for a Universe to exist and not the other way around", DNA, Humans (Baby getting ready, First Breath, Stem Cells, Embryonic Stem Cells, Rejuvenation), Global Unity, ... etc.) - (Text Version)

“ … Physicists say that electrons spin. They don't, and they can't. There's no surface on an electron, since they are energy. They don't spin, but instead have an electronic potential. Every single particle on this planet, everything you can see, all things in this Universe, are created with polarity. This is new information now. All things are created with polarity, and they're designed to be self-balancing. And because of the polarity of what you would call plus and minus, they move and try to balance themselves within a field - all things, both physical and other.

However, all polarities are prone to be biased by what I will call peer pressure. Electrons that carry (or spin with a polarity) of what you would call a certain kind of charge - we'll call it positive - are drawn to those that are negative so that they will null themselves out. They seek each other out to create the null of balance. They seek to be balanced, and if they are not, they are not happy. I use this word only to emphasize the condition of a particle of physics that does not find its balance. Even the unscientific can appreciate this.

But even with atoms, there are not always matched pairs of electrons, since there is no atomic rule that says that electrons will always be created in even numbers. So there will often be what I will call the odd one out and when that happens, the entire atom will then be charged positively or negatively, depending upon the odd one out. When this happens, this atom will seek out another atom, which has an odd one out of an opposite charge. That has a name: Magnetism. I've just explained magnetism. Now, science knows part of that already. What they have not realized yet, however, is that all things have a duality. They suspect it and there are theories that will show it soon enough, and I've given it to you today because it always has existed in someone's mind.

So from the very smallest to the very biggest, even the galaxy has duality. At the center of your galaxy, what you call the black hole, is a quantum push/pull engine, and I'm going to tell you in a minute why it's that way.

Here is a big question, and I will answer it right now. Why does everything have a polarity? Why would it be created this way, even down to the electron? The smallest thing, even to what you call the Higgs Bosen [God Particle] and the quarks, they all have polarity. There isn't a piece of nature that you're going to find that doesn't have polarity. Why? I will tell you why: Physicists will laugh. Not in ridicule, but in agreement. If it were not this way, the Universe would be a dull, boring place to be. Because, by creating a duality in every single particle, you create an active Universe that is self-balancing and is never at rest. If it were not this way, it would be static, unchanging, and non-creative. Therefore, without polarity, there would be no life. Life is created by having a duality, a polarity in atomic particles. Life is that which is necessary for the Universe to exist. There's no reason for physics without life - and you thought it was the other way around, didn't you? Life was an accident on one planet. Oh, how 3D of you! Life is the DESIGN..…”