Solar panel world record smashed with ‘miracle material’

Smurfi, 7 months ago

A team from the Chinese solar technology firm Longi set a new world record of 33.9 per cent for a silicon-perovskite tandem solar cell, breaking the previous record set in May this year by King Abdullah University of Science & Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia.

Saved everyone a click

Waraugh, 7 months ago

What was the previous record?

ramenshaman, 7 months ago

Oh great! I can’t wait to not see it or hear about it again just like all those other amazing breakthroughs 😭

xkforce, 7 months ago

1. This is a combination of two different cells not one material
2. Currently most perovskites are based on Lead salts. So theyre cheap to manufacture but have obvious environmental issues

agressivelyPassive, 7 months ago

As long as they don’t leak lead, I don’t really see the problem.

empireOfLove, 7 months ago

the lead will be perfectly safe until someone crushes them up into a bunch of powder with a front loader, and then dumps in the nearest unsealed landfill

also lead mining/production is not waste free in of itself

xkforce, 7 months ago

Theyre lead salts. I guarantee that some of it is going to leech into the environment. And at some point theyre going to need to be manufactured in the first place and recycled/disposed of

cmnybo, 7 months ago

The companies that make these need to provide free recycling for every panel they sell.