Ferroelectrics Could Boost Solar Cell Voltages
BERKELEY, Calif., Sept. 27, 2011 — Some ferroelectric materials can develop extremely high voltages when exposed to light, which could improve solar cells, but scientists haven’t been able to figure out how the process works. Now, researchers at the US Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California in Berkeley have apparently solved the mystery of one ferroelectric material, bismuth ferrite (BFO), which they say should determine that the same principle can be applied to...