His name is Shi Zhengrong and he is China's leading manufacturer of silicon solar panels, which convert sunlight into electricity.

This cylindrically shaped detector consists of three layers of silicon panels (strips).

Other thin-film technologies are typically between 5% and 13%, and traditional low-cost commercial silicon panels operate between 12% and 15%.

In fact, Solyndra had a huge problem: the price of silicon panels was plummeting, making its products uncompetitive.

The solar energy converters need not be silicon solar panels.

Since silicon solar panels only use one pane of glass, thin film panels are approximately twice as heavy as crystalline silicon panels.

Some inkjet solar cells use the material CIGS which has more solar efficiency than the traditional silicon solar panels.

Copper tubing panels are used to heat her swimming pool, while silicon panels provide all the electricity for her home.

For one thing, it warms water directly, where silicon panels must first convert solar energy to electricity.

In time, it hopes those efforts can become the foundation for more complicated devices like silicon solar panels, powerful memory chips and thin films for flexible electronic displays.