Two University of New South Wales (UNSW) engineers have created a new world record for solar efficiency.
Fairfax Media reported on Wednesday that research engineers Martin Green and Mark Keevers have developed a device that traps light though a simple prism, which in turn, dramatically bolsters solar cell efficiency.
The pair set a new world record for sunlight to electricity conversion efficiency at 34.5 percent. The efficiency of commercially available solar panels is said to range between 14 to 22 percent.
Both Green and Keevers said the device extracts the maximum energy from sunlight, using a hybrid four-junction receiver to squeeze even more electricity from each beam of sunlight.
They described their finding as an encouraging result and showed that there are still advances to come in photo-voltaic research to make solar cells even more efficient.