Pull to refresh
Logo
Daily Brief
Following
Why Sign Up
Adrian Sauer

Adrian Sauer

Graduate student, Heinze group, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz

Appears in 1 story

Stories

Researchers surpass solar energy's quantum ceiling using singlet fission and spin-flip emitters

New Capabilities

Second author; catalyzed the collaboration during exchange visit

Every conventional solar cell on Earth runs into the same wall: a single photon of sunlight can knock loose, at most, one electron. That constraint, formalized in 1961, caps the efficiency of standard silicon panels at roughly 33%. A team from Kyushu University and Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz has now demonstrated a molecular system that coaxes 1.3 useful energy carriers out of each absorbed photon—a 130% quantum yield—by splitting one photon's energy into two carriers through a quantum process called singlet fission and catching them with a specially designed molybdenum-based emitter.

Updated 4 hours ago