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.
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| This is the laser set-up used to to make the actual measurements reported in the paper. (Credit: Dr. Akshay Rao) |