Question about electromagnetic spectrum and solar cells

[willislinn54]

TL;DR Summary

Light comes in different frequencies can sunlight be broken apart and as in a prism,

Would it be possible to change all wavelenths to one frequency that would then be sent to a solar panel adapted for it,
or once split could to be sent to cells that work in that range? In other words use all the light to produse electric power

 

[berkeman]

Summary:: Light comes in different frequencies can sunlight be broken apart and as in a prism,

Would it be possible to change all wavelenths to one frequency that would then be sent to a solar panel adapted for it,
or once split could to be sent to cells that work in that range? In other words use all the light to produse electric power

Welcome to PF.

Do you mean convert the optical spectrum of sunlight to a single wavelenght where the solar cell is more efficient? That would indeed increase the solar conversion efficiency. Unfortunately, I don't think there is any way to do that.

Instead, some solar cells are now built with several layers that are efficient at converting different wavelengths of the insolation to electricity. That's kind of along the lines of what you are asking about? I'll see if I can find some links for more reading...

 

[berkeman]

https://news.energysage.com/multijunction-solar-cells/

Comparing multi-junction and single-junction solar cells

How do multi-junction cells and single-junction cells compare? We’ll take a look at three main factors: efficiency, materials, and pricing.

Efficiency

A solar cell’s efficiency is a measure of what percentage of incoming light that hits the cell can be converted to electricity. In terms of theoretical efficiency, multi-junction solar cells have the potential to significantly outperform traditional single-junction solar cells. According to the Department of Energy, multi-junction solar cells with three junctions have theoretical efficiencies over 45 percent, while single-junction cells top out at about 33.5 percent. Adding more junctions (potentially up to 5 or 6 junctions) could boost efficiency over 70 percent. For reference, the most efficient solar panels available today have efficiencies around 22 percent.

<<snip>>

 

[willislinn54]

Welcome to PF.

Do you mean convert the optical spectrum of sunlight to a single wavelenght where the solar cell is more efficient? That would indeed increase the solar conversion efficiency. Unfortunately, I don't think there is any way to do that.

Instead, some solar cells are now built with several layers that are efficient at converting different wavelengths of the insolation to electricity. That's kind of along the lines of what you are asking about? I'll see if I can find some links for more reading...

Break the bands and maybe use optic fibers to send each to a cell that uses that type wavelenth
I don't know how to build a massive collector that can split it but it does not mean it's not possible, the different layer idea would seem to have built in problems such as heat.
Another thing I've been chewing on is the light bending proprieties of liquids as the crystal type objects to use.

 

[berkeman]

Keep thinking creatively, that's a good thing. I'd definitely suggest that you do some Google searches with different search terms to see what-all has been tried so far. High-efficiency solar conversion is a favorite area of interest of mine (but I've been out of the main loop for several years now). The multi-layer approach is being used so far because of its relative simplicity, compared to trying to split up the incoming light into different wavelength bands and directing that to different solar panels.

Keep in mind that a workable solution has to be able to handle fairly large areas of solar collection in order to be cost-effective. So even it you can do a light-splitting setup on a tabletop, it doesn't mean that it may be practical in an installation the size of multiple football fields...

https://www.irena.org/-/media/Image...ENA_Latam_Caribbean_Solar_Growth_2019_art.jpg