The company said a patent application has been filed on the new design element.
Solar3D president and CEO Jim Nelson said the breakthrough combined with the company’s high efficiency design can result in a solar cell that can produce 200% of the power of conventional silicon solar cells.
"Conventional solar cells become dramatically less efficient if the sun is not shining within a narrow range of incident angles. Sunlight that hits the cell outside of this range will be reflected off, and the reduced solar energy causes the cell’s internal efficiency to drop," Nelson said.
"This new design element serves to lower the Total Cost of Ownership of a solar power system by allowing it to capture more sunlight and produce more electricity."
The breakthrough has a special design on the cell surface that collects sunlight over a wide range of angles.
The collected light is then forced into 3-dimensional photovoltaic micro-structures beneath the cell surface that trap the light and convert it into electricity.
