About Singlet Fission

Silicon solar cells make up the majority of solar modules manufactured to date. There is good reason for this: silicon technology is mature, efficient, and reliable. However, the technology is nearing its theoretical performance limit. This is because silicon technology does not unlock the full power of the solar spectrum. At OMEGA Silicon we will combine the effect of singlet fission with silicon solar cells to boost the amount of electricity produced.

One photon in, One electron out

Silicon solar cells produce the same amount of electrical current for every packet of light absorbed: one photon in, one electron carying current. It doesn’t matter if the photon is in the UV, blue, green, or red. As long as silicon absorbs it, only one electron contributes to the electrical current.

One photon in, Two electrons out

Singlet fission changes this arithmetic.
For photons with enough energy, molecules that undergo singlet fission produce two eletrons  from just one photon. That means, we double the electrical current produced by these photons.

Singlet fission is known to take place in many molecular materials. However, in recent years it has been demonstrated that electrons prodcued by singlet fission can be transferred into a silicon semiconductor. This breakthrough has shown to both passivate the silicon surface and allow triplet exciton energy transfer into the silicon device, therefore demonstrating a potential pathway to enable solar module efficiencies above 30 per cent.

So what does all that mean? We have the opportunity to boost an already brilliant technology!

Now is the time to unlock the true potential of singlet fission!