A single particle of light can be split to double the electricity produced by solar cells
Modern solar technology can now split high-energy light particles into two separate electrons, potentially doubling electricity production and shattering the theoretical efficiency limits that have governed solar power for decades.
Traditional solar cells are limited by the Shockley-Queisser limit, which dictates they can only convert about 33.7 percent of sunlight into electricity. This occurs because high-energy blue light photons often lose their excess energy as heat. However, a process called singlet fission allows a single photon to excite two electrons instead of one. By using specialized organic molecules, researchers have achieved an external quantum efficiency of 130 percent.
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