Mirror-like nanoparticles can boost the efficiency of solar cells. Scientists in Australia coated a solar cell’s TiO2 photoanode with cubic cerium oxide nanoparticles. The nanoparticles’ large mirror-like facets are good at scattering light back onto the TiO2 nanoparticles, resulting in a 17.8% improvement in the power conversion efficiency compared to regular dye sensitised solar cells.
Link to journal article
Cubic CeO2 Nanoparticles as Mirror-like Scattering Layer for Efficient Light Harvesting in Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells
Lianzhou Wang
Chem. Commun., 2012, DOI: 10.1039/c2cc32239k
