1301.7111 (Milos Knezevic et al.)

Photoferroelectric solar to electrical conversion    [PDF]

Milos Knezevic, Mark Warner

We propose a charge pump which converts solar energy into DC electricity. It is based on cyclic changes in the spontaneous electric polarization of a photoferroelectric material, which allows a transfer of charge from a low to a high voltage. To estimate the power efficiency we use a photoferroelectric liquid crystal as the working substance. For a specific choice of material, an efficiency of $2\%$ is obtained.

View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1301.7111