eli5: Do solar panels only work with sunlight, or can they be tuned to capture energy from other wavelengths outside the visible spectrum?

Question

eli5: Do solar panels only work with sunlight, or can they be tuned to capture energy from other wavelengths outside the visible spectrum?

In: 2876

Answer 1

You can do it with PVT (Photovoltaic Thermal) panels, they have tubes filled with water running on the back of the solar panel. This captures the heat. This has as added benefit that the solar panels are effectively cooled and therefore operate at higher efficiency.

I read somewhere that they achieved 86% total efficiency once with this system, which is very high for a solar energy system. But I don’t know how it compares cost wise.

https://www.engineering.com/story/photovoltaic-thermal-system-achieves-86-efficiency