The energy output of two types of solar cells in the tropics may vary by 5% or more. Currently, most of the emerging solar cell market is located in this region.

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology predicted the production capacity of solar cells around the world and pointed out that the reason for this difference is that solar energy is affected by temperature and atmospheric moisture. A paper recently published in Joule magazine emphasizes that solar products may perform differently in different environments.

In addition, researchers have developed an open source tool. Tonio Buonassisi, associate professor of mechanical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said: "We have studied the location and technical factors and proposed a framework for predicting the energy output of solar panels. If you have a new solar technology, you can see where your technology is. it is good."

To demonstrate how the framework works, the researchers combined solar cell location data from the US and Singapore with the best outdoor location maps for solar cells using one-year satellite weather data to analyze silicon and cadmium telluride solar energy. battery.

The researchers found that in hot and humid Singapore, cadmium telluride solar cells produce 5% more energy than silicon cells. Other high electron bandgap materials may have similar trends, such as gallium arsenide or metal halide perovskites.

“Currently, the tools developers use to predict solar panel capacity and solar system planning are often expensive and inaccurate,” said Ian Marius Peters, assistant researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Photovoltaic Research Laboratory. “The reason they are inaccurate is that They are developed for temperate climate regions such as the United States, Europe and Japan."

Interested users can download the tool and then enter their own location and different types of solar battery information to determine where their solar cells work best, or which type of solar cells should be used in their location. Researchers say this is a different way of thinking about solar cells, which are often described as how much energy can be produced under laboratory conditions, rather than in a specific environment.

Of course, the above analysis of different regions does not take into account the effects of other factors such as dust, snow and rain. Therefore, while considering the geographical location, we must also consider the impact of climate and environment. The most important point is that the surface is dust-proof and self-cleaning, and it is different in different geographical locations. Includes snow protection. In this regard, the dust-proof and snow-proof self-cleaning coating of Shangmeng Technology may play a big role.

(Shangmeng Science and Technology is edited according to the information of Tang Yichen of Science Network)