Giving Compass' Take:

• Researchers report that thin films made from barium zirconium sulfide have special electronic and optical properties that theorists predicted and could make solar panels better and cheaper.

• How can philanthropists help advance progress on energy-saving processes? How does this help drive growth in addressing climate change?

• Here's how floating solar panels could be the future of clean energy. 

The films combine exceptionally strong light absorption with good charge transport—two qualities that make them ideal for applications such as photovoltaics and light-emitting diodes (LEDs).

In solar panels, for example, experimental results suggest that barium zirconium sulfide (BaZrS3) films would be much more efficient at converting sunlight into electricity than traditional silicon-based materials with identical thicknesses, says lead researcher Hao Zeng, professor of physics at the University at Buffalo. This could lower solar energy costs, especially because the new films performed admirably even when they had imperfections. Manufacturing nearly flawless materials is typically more expensive, Zeng explains.

“For many decades, there have been only a handful of semiconductor materials that have been used, with silicon being the dominant material,” Zeng says. “Our thin films open the door to a new direction in semiconductor research. There’s a chance to explore the potential of a whole new class of materials.”

Read the full article about thin filmed solar panels by Charlotte Hsu at Futurity.