2026-05-04 11:01:13
Japanese scientists have found a new way to boost solar panels using extra energy from the sun.
The researchers have developed a metal-based system which reduces heat losses during conversion, using a chemical structure called a spin-flip emitter.
The structure, which is built from molybdenum, captures multiplied energy created during the singlet fission process.
A mismatch between photon energies and the response of semiconductors, which can result in some photons not triggering electrons, while there is also some losing excess energy as heat.
Yoichi Sasaki, Associate Professor at Kyushu University’s Faculty of Engineering – which carried out the research in collaboration with Germany’s Johannes Gutenberg University (JGU) Mainz – said: “We have two main strategies to break through this limit.
“One is to convert lower-energy infrared photons into higher energy visible photons. The other, what we explore here, is to use SF to generate two excitons from a single exciton photon.”
The scientists have hailed singlet fission as a “dream” tech for light conversion, allowing a single high-energy excitation to split into two lower ones, which could in theory double the number of usable carriers.
Thus far, the research has only been focused on solution testing instead of full solar devices, and so there still needs to be further work to determine if practical application is possible.
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