The electronics company announced on Thursday that it has constructed a new solar cell that comprises its entire layer that absorbs light for conversion into energy from readily-available elements - copper, tin, zinc, sulfur, and selenium.
Using the inexpensive materials, the new cell can convert sunlight into solar energy at a 9.6 percent efficiency rate. The figure serves as a new world record for the set of materials used in its creation, besting the efficiency of previous cells that had used similar materials by 40 percent.
"In a given hour, more energy from sunlight strikes the earth than the entire planet consumes in a year, but solar cells currently contribute less than 0.1 percent of electricity supply…" said Dr. David Mitzi, a lead researcher for IBM."The quest to develop a solar technology that can compare on a cost per watt basis with the conventional electricity generation… has become a major challenge that our research is moving us closer to overcoming."
IBM added that the only solar energy cell modules that can currently produce efficiency levels from 9 to 11 percent are made from either indium gallium selenide or cadmium telluride, both of which are extremely costly. Similarly, attempts to create solar cells using cheaper, readily-available materials had topped out at a 6.7 percent efficiency level.
