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In retrospect

Twenty-five years of low-cost solar cells

Nature volume 538, pages 463–464 (2016)Cite this article

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In 1991, an energy-efficient solar cell was reported that was both simple in design and relatively inexpensive. This invention has since inspired the development of solar cells that have even higher efficiencies.

About 85% of the world's energy requirements are currently satisfied by exhaustible fossil fuels that have detrimental consequences on human health and the environment1. Moreover, the global energy demand is predicted to double by 2050 (ref. 2). International action to achieve efficient and sustainable energy is therefore imperative (see www.se4all.org). Twenty-five years ago, O'Regan and Grätzel3 reported in Nature the landmark construction of a low-cost solar cell that could convert about 7% of the energy received from sunlight into electricity. In the past seven years, their work has inspired the production of solar cells that use compounds called perovskites4,5 and that can have conversion efficiencies of greater than 22% (see go.nature.com/2e3rq0e).

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Figure 1: The evolution of solar cells.

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References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mohammad K. Nazeeruddin is in the Group for Molecular Engineering of Functional Materials, Institute of Chemical Sciences and Engineering, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, CH-1951 Sion, Switzerland.,

    Mohammad K. Nazeeruddin

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  1. Mohammad K. Nazeeruddin
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Correspondence to Mohammad K. Nazeeruddin.

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Nazeeruddin, M. Twenty-five years of low-cost solar cells. Nature 538, 463–464 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/538463a

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