China News Service, August 22. According to a report from Hong Kong Sing Tao.com, the team of Ren Guangyu and Ye Xuanli, professors of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering of the City University of Hong Kong, developed a third-generation "flexible solar cell" that is as thin and bendable as film (film). ”, and used this breakthrough technology to develop “transparent smart windows” with both photovoltaic power generation and thermal insulation and energy-saving functions, and was supported by Hong Kong science and technology enterprises to develop related technologies, promote the application of photovoltaic building integration, and develop such as “solar floor tiles”. ” and other novel photovoltaic products.
One of the recent graduates who participated in the research team was employed in the top 500 building materials companies in the world.
Both Ye Xuanli and Prof Ren were selected as "Highly Cited Researchers", and their research teams have been participating in the paid research internship programme specially designed for undergraduates by the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at CityU.
The department will increase the number of places in this program in 2022/23, and undergraduates open to all grades can also apply, and there is no upper limit on the number of places.
In addition, the department also provides internship opportunities for 6 students from different secondary schools for the first time this year through the “Pengcheng Talent Engineering Library” of the CityU Faculty of Engineering.
Ye Xuanli said that solar energy is the most abundant renewable energy source, and photovoltaic power generation, which uses semiconductors to convert light into electricity, such as large-scale ground power stations composed of traditional crystalline silicon solar cells, has developed rapidly around the world in recent years.
However, for Hong Kong, which has many mountains and flat land and dense high-rise buildings, the large-scale development of solar energy is limited.
Therefore, how to develop photovoltaic technology suitable for urban applications through innovative technology is very important to Hong Kong, and the third-generation "flexible solar cells" are manufactured by printing thin films, which greatly reduces the manufacturing cost of solar cells and increases the development of more intelligent product possibilities.
He also pointed out that in recent years, the team has developed a "transparent smart window" that can not only generate electricity with photovoltaics, but also have thermal insulation and energy saving, which is expected to greatly improve the energy-saving performance of photovoltaic buildings. In the future, the project will focus on the development of efficient and stable large-scale Area "flexible solar cells", and promote the application of this technology in photovoltaic building integration.