Honda Motor Co. Inc. (Tokyo, Japan) announced the development of next-generation solar cell panels made by Honda Engineering, a Honda subsidiary. The new solar panels feature a light-absorbing layer formed by a compound made of copper, indium, gallium and selenium, which lowers the amount of electricity required for production process of solar cells, compared with ordinary silicone-crystal type solar cells.
The electrolysis unit, which generates hydrogen from water, has been replaced with a new Honda-developed compact unit that achieves higher efficiency using a new Ruthenium-based catalyst. Both the new solar cells and the new electrolysis unit are mounted on the Honda solar-cell-powered hydrogen refueling station in Torrance, CA, to improve the total efficiency.
