New U.S. photovoltaic technology increases solar cell conversion efficiency to 66%

This process transfers hot electrons from the quantum atom cluster to an electron receiver. In a typical semiconductor solar cell, photons with energies exceeding the semiconductor's band gap generate hot electrons, but most of the energy in the hot electrons is lost through heating before it can be captured and used to generate electricity.

The new process uses quantum atoms to slow the cooling of hot electrons before capturing them and transferring them to an electron receiver, which would allow traditional solar cells to lose less energy when they heat up.

Robert Hines, president of Evolution Solar, said this is a huge leap in solar power technology that will make solar power generation cheaper. He pointed out that this new discovery is expected to double the amount of solar power generated and reduce the solar investment payback period by half.