Episode 59: Photovoltaic Materials
Materialism: A Materials Science Podcast
00:00
What Is the Difference Between Thin Film and Photovoltaics?
In 1954, Bell Labs was working on these silicon solar panels. The thin film device totally re-thinks that idea. So instead of having one perfect crystal, what if we took something super cheap, like glass, and then we coat onto it these semiconductors so we can make essentially like artificial rocks. We don't need a very thick layer because the absorption happens over microns.
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