The invention of North Carolina State University has great potential to improve solar cell efficiency, as well as other technologies to develop solar energy.

    Dr. Ahmed El-Shafei's research team invented a new "sensitizer" or dye that can take advantage of more ambient light and sunlight than any current market. Dye, which can be used in dye-sensitized solar cells.

    “A third-party solar company uses our new dye, the University of North Carolina 10 (NCSU-10) dye, to compare the most advanced dyes on the market. Our dye power is 14% higher,” El - Shafei said that he is an assistant professor in the Department of Textile Engineering, Chemistry and Science. “In other words, the University of North Carolina on the 10th allows us to harvest more energy, but only the same amount of sunlight.”

    This new dye can significantly improve the efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells, which have a range of applications. Indoors, these dye-sensitized solar cell technologies can be used to drive mobile phones, laptops and MP3 players, using only ambient light. Outdoors, they can be used in traditional solar arrays, or in advanced energy-driven applications, as building integrated photovoltaic products, including, but not limited to, windows, facades, and skylights.

    Compared to the most advanced dyes on the market, the University of North Carolina No. 10 dye absorbs more photons and requires lower dye concentrations, so it can produce more efficient solar cells for windows and exterior walls while still allowing The window is highly transparent.

    Dye-sensitized solar cells are prepared using inexpensive and environmentally friendly materials, including dyes, electrolytes, and titanium dioxide (TiO2), which is the white component used in toothpaste. Dye-sensitized solar cells absorb photons, or discrete photopackets, to create free electrons with incident light (or light that directly illuminates the surface), which is carried out in nanoporous semiconductors such as titanium dioxide, all in batteries. These electrons are transferred to an external circuit to generate a current. Because they do not depend on the angle of incident light and are highly responsive to low-level lighting conditions, this dye-sensitized solar cell is 20% to 40% more efficient than conventional silicon photovoltaic products, in diffuse lighting, cloudy or rainy days. This is the case with indoor ambient light, which makes dye-sensitized solar cells a unique optoelectronic product.

    A patent is pending for this new dye, and the university is in contact with a potential industry partner to negotiate licensing of the University of North Carolina No. 10 dye and to fund other research in this area.