New discovery has been made by the researchers at MIT. They have developed a new type of photovoltaic cell that is made out of carbon nanotubes. These can capture solar energy with an infrared region. The conventional silicon solar cells are not capable of doing this. There is plenty of research going on into using solar energy in different ways as well as enhancing the solar cell energy. This is a breakthrough in the latter.

The new research has been made possible due to the large-scale production of carbon nanotubes. The material is transparent to visible light and through the use of conventional silicon cell, a hybrid cell could be made. This helps to capture most energy from the sunlight in theory. The details of this research have been published in the journal, Advanced Materials. The scientists are very much hopeful about high-efficiency near-infrared solar cells. The costs however are to be settled into actually making it any applicable.

Researchers believe that this new development still needs some working upon. Researchers have previously been able to use carbon nanotubes to make solar cells, but that too was not an improved version of research. The production process of such a hybrid cell is very difficult and more complex. The cells require small amounts of highly purified carbon that gets a lighter product in the end.