A major impediment to the efficiency of solar cells has been overcome through a collaboration of physicists and engineers, including David K. Ferry, a Fulton Schools emeritus professor of electrical, computer and energy engineering. Together they have developed a new approach to producing what’s called a hot carrier solar cell and combining it with ultrahigh-efficiency single junction semiconductor devices, which could raise solar cell efficiency by 20 percent —and possibly “revolutionize” the field of photovoltaics and renewable energy generation.