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this post was submitted on 06 Nov 2023
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Technology
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The theoretical limit we can get out of the sun with panels is 40-45% so we are getting pretty close to that.
Do you know what is theoretically limiting it to 40-45% in the physical process we are using?
The materials that do the absorption are not effective across the entire wavelength spectrum of the sun. They can only absorb at a certain wavelength range, but the spectrum range of the sun is very wide.
Edit. Also other reasons, like recombination rate where the photon hitting the panel generates an electron-hole pair which is then collected and used for evegy, but electrons and holes tend to want to recombine, after which we cannot use them for evergy. We want this rate to be zero, but it never is, it is a probabilistic process. So even if you can absorb everything, you can't utilise everything you absorb.
In my very limited understanding there are too many loses between material to endpoint. The old limit used to be 35% before they made new materials so maybe we can improve the potential in future.