What if solar power could do 15 times more? Researchers have an answer

Researchers engineered a solar thermoelectric generator 15 times more efficient than current state-of-the-art devices.

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In the quest for energy independence, researchers have studied solar thermoelectric generators (STEGs) as a promising source of solar electricity generation. Unlike the photovoltaics currently used in most solar panels, STEGs can harness all kinds of thermal energy in addition to sunlight. The simple devices have hot and cold sides with semiconductor materials in between, and the difference in temperature between the sides generates electricity through a physical phenomenon known as the Seebeck effect.

But current STEGs have major efficiency limitations preventing them from being more widely adopted as a practical form of energy production. Right now, most solar thermoelectric generators convert less than 1 per cent of sunlight into electricity, compared to roughly 20 per cent for residential solar panel systems.