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Solar energy is the source of all energy like fossil fuels and petrofuels, where the solar energy is stored in the form of other energy in fossils and petrofuels. Today with the development of new technology, we can use solar energy directly in solar photovoltaic cells to produce electrical energy. This method is totally pollution free and cost-effective too. The invention of photovoltaic solar cells, which converts solar energy in solar energy devices, is a good solution for energy crisis; however, two drawbacks like cost and inefficiency prevent the wide usage of photovoltaic solar cells. Nevertheless, the solar energy technology is growing very fast undergoing rapid changes, and the invention of Multijunction Solar Cells has become “one of the keys to bright energy future.” Multijunction solar cells are multi-layered and they are designed to absorb all the seven colours of sun's spectrum. As the prism diffracts sun's rays into 7 rainbow colours, the cells in the multijunction solar cells are specialized to capture all the rays in sunlight spectrum that is capable of converting more sunlight into electricity and hence, the efficiency increases up to 40% - 4-3 times than the current solar panels. The researchers boast that these multijunction solar cells are the most promising device. Moreover, each sub cells of the panel are stacked in layers and each layer of sub cells absorbs rays of shortest wavelength to highest wavelength as the light passes through each layer consequently. This stacked arrangement of cells has advantage over single-junction solar cells. The single layered solar cells have only 34% efficiency while the efficiency of multijunction solar cells can be increased up to 84%, provided there are enough availability of multiple cells and optimal semiconductor materials to eliminate band gaps. There are several limitations existed in producing multijunction solar cells as the thinness of the material used in the cells are very difficult to extract the current between the layers. The only solution is to stack two thin cells separately and wire them individually from outside. Another solution is to use "monolithically integrated" cell. These cells are very difficult to produce. Today researchers in the field are working hard to improve multijunction solar cells by using solar cells of different band gap and a lattice-matched design to gain maximum efficiency, which were lacking in the previous design. This has helped improve the functioning of these solar cells. So, why not use solar devices and conserve nature for a better future tomorrow? About Author For more information visit on Multijunction Solar Cells and BIPV Applications.
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