Future research will focus on making devices and examining how these states can be harnessed for use in solar cells.
- Leah Weiss
Physicists have successfully employed a powerful technique for studying electrons generated through singlet fission, a process which it is believed will be key to more efficient solar energy production in years to come.
Their approach, reported in the journal Nature Physics, employed lasers, microwave radiation and magnetic fields to analyse the spin of excitons, which are energetically excited particles formed in molecular systems.
These are generated as a result of singlet fission, a process that researchers around the world are trying to understand fully in order to use it to better harness energy from the sun. Using materials exhibiting singlet fission in solar cells could make energy production much more efficient in the future, but the process needs to be fully understood in order to optimize the relevant materials and design appropriate technologies to exploit it.
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Image: Spin, an intrinsic property of electrons, is related to the dynamics of electrons excited as a result of singlet fission – a process which could be used to extract energy in future solar cell technologies.
Credit: Leah Weiss
Reproduced courtesy of the University of Cambridge
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