Researchers at the Warsaw University of Technology (PW) are working to develop a material with a negative refractive index that will not only reduce the heating of the cell, but also reduce energy losses in the process of energy production by photovoltaic panels.

As PW reports, preliminary research has shown that a suitably designed hyperbolic metamaterial can act as an edge filter for the photovoltaic cell, which reflects infrared radiation. And it is this that leads to heating of the cell and, consequently, to a decrease in its energy efficiency.

Experimental verification of metamaterial structures is being carried out in collaboration with the Institute of Microelectronics and Photonics of the Łukasiewicz Research Network (IMiF) and the Institute of Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IFPAN).

‘Until now, hyperbolic metamaterials have not been used in this way, so our project is characterised by high scientific innovation’, says Dr Eng. Bartosz Fetliński from the Faculty of Electronics and Information Technology at the Warsaw University of Technology, head of the research team.