UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Tonight, try this: Turn the main fuse in the house off and see how it feels to live without electricity for 24 hours. No lights for reading, no TV for information, no air conditioning to keep you cool, and no stove to heat a meal.
Would you survive? Probably. Would you like the experience? Probably not. Now, imagine how billions of people around the world without electricity, or with poor electricity supply, are living — every single day.
According to the International Energy Agency’s World Energy Outlook 2016, an estimated 1.2 billion people — 16 percent of the global population — do not have access to electricity. Approximately 2.7 billion people — 38 percent of the world’s population — do not have access to clean, hygienic cooking facilities.
Help could be on the way in the form of a simple, inexpensive solar cell conceived by a group of multi-university researchers led by Akhlesh Lakhtakia, Charles Godfrey Binder Professor in Engineering Science and Mechanics at Penn State. These solar cells could provide electricity for every home in underdeveloped and emerging economies; they could also light the way to more sustainable economic and social growth across the globe.
“The major difference between people who are wealthy and who are poor is this: The wealthy can afford their energy sources and have greater access to them,” said Lakhtakia. “Because poor people can’t afford their energy resources, they lack the wherewithal to improve their economic status. They don’t need the most efficient sources. They need affordable ones and a helpful nudge to improve their lives. That motivated us in our research.”
Solar cells are opto-electronic devices containing multiple layers of semiconductors that capture and absorb solar radiation (photons). Every absorbed photon creates an electron-hole pair (EHP); electrons and holes are sent in opposite directions to generate an electric current.