Materials
Self-Arranging Titania Nanotubes Promise Ultra-Low-Cost Solar Cells
05 December 2012POSTED IN Research
Researchers at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts (US) have developed self-arranging titania nanotube arrays that could be advantageous in solar panels or fuel cells. The one-dimensional architecture and the large effective surface area of the nanotube arrays could provide better solar harvesting capability as well as improved charge transport.
Bearings are Key Components in CSP Plant Design
03 December 2012POSTED IN Applications Features
The Concentrated Solar Plant (CSP) market is expected to increase in output from 2 to 4 gigawatts (GW) per annum in a few years. To meet the on-going demand for energy, it is crucial to continually enhance the longevity of a CSP plant. The small parts that make up these large plants help to keep the applications maintenance free, long lasting, and moving efficiently, extending overall facility life and productivity.
Magnolia Solar Discusses Optical Coatings for PV
29 November 2012POSTED IN Business News
Magnolia Solar Corporation has announced that Dr. Roger E. Welser, the chief technology officer of its wholly owned subsidiary, Magnolia Solar, Inc., presented a paper at the 2012 Materials Research Society (MRS) Fall Meeting in Boston, Massachusettes, titled “Nanostructured Transparent Conductive Oxides for Photovoltaic Applications,” as part of a special session on PV technologies.
Welser also served a session chair for the session New Concepts, Materials and Technologies for Future Photovoltaics on 28 November.
ThyssenKrupp Steel Europe and Solliance Research OPV on Steel
29 November 2012POSTED IN Applications News
ThyssenKrupp Steel Europe and Solliance have partnered to research applications for organic photovoltaics (OPVs), the companies today announced.
PPG’s Heat-Strengthened 2mm Glass for Solar
27 November 2012POSTED IN New Products
PPG Industries’ flat glass business has announced that it can now manufacture heat-strengthened glass in thicknesses of less than 3mm.
Sun Master Solar Collectors Win Green Brands Seal
27 November 2012POSTED IN Business News
Sun Master has received the Green Brands Austria seal for two of its solar panel product lines, SSK and SLIM (pictured).
The solar thermal collectors use 99% recycled raw materials.
Breakthrough 2D Semiconductor Possible Next-Generation Solar Cell
18 November 2012POSTED IN Research
Researchers from the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have successfully synthesized single-layer MoSe2 (molybdenum diselenide), which has ideal band gap values for solar harvesting. The team discovered that while 2D MoSe2 presents a direct band gap, bulk MoSe2 is an indirect band gap semiconductor when it is few-layers thick. The band characteristics are manipulated through temperature. With its advantageous band gap and great photoluminescence characteristics, this two-dimensional semiconductor offers flexibility and new options for solar applications.
First All-Carbon Solar Cell Could Excel in Extreme Conditions
15 November 2012POSTED IN Research
Chemical Engineers at Stanford University in California (US) have built the first solar cell made entirely of carbon, a material considered promising by photovoltaics researchers for its high performance, low cost and earth-abundance. In addition to building an efficient thin-film solar cell that can be coated inexpensively from solutions, the Stanford team expects their devices to be particularly stable in harsh environmental, chemical and physical conditions.
First Solar Honors Premier Suppliers
14 November 2012POSTED IN Business News
First Solar, Inc. honored its premier suppliers at the company's second annual Supplier Recognition Day, held on 13 November in Phoenix, Arizona (US). Approximately 160 of First Solar's top suppliers attended the event, five of whom were honored with the company's NOVA award for outstanding performance in 2012.
Mage Solar Introduces Emergency PV Kit with On/Off Grid Capability
09 November 2012POSTED IN New Products
Mage Solar today announced a 3kW emergency kit that is designed as a stand-alone solution to provide reliable power during grid outages.
Next-Generation Anti-Reflective Coatings
03 November 2012POSTED IN Research
The next generation of antireflection (AR) coatings has arrived and could help bump solar cell efficiency considerably by employing a promising new class of optical nanomaterials that allow for near-arbitrary control of the refractive index, conceivably the most important materials constant in optics and optoelectronics. Could these advanced coatings present a critical forward push for solar photovoltaics toward becoming a mainstream source of worldwide electrical power generation?
Multiple Exciton Generation Boosts Solar Efficiency
30 October 2012POSTED IN Research
Scientists from the US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have demonstrated the first high-efficiency quantum dot solar cell (QDSC) with an external quantum efficiency (EQE) exceeding 100% for photons with energies in the solar range. Moreover, these QDSCs, which potentially could be fabricated at very low cost, could reach 44% efficiency through Multiple Exciton Generation (MEG). Current commercial technologies are limited to 31%.
World-Record Nanocarbon PV Cells
17 October 2012POSTED IN Research
Researchers at the University of Kansas (KU), Lawrence, Kansas (US), broke the all-carbon PV efficiency world record with a 1.3% efficient solar cell built from nanocarbons, materials that could help drastically reduce the cost of PV technologies in the future.
How Solvent Mixtures Affect Organic Solar Cell Structure
12 October 2012POSTED IN Research
Physicists from the North Carolina State University (NC State) in the US, in collaboration with teams of scientists from the United Kingdom, Australia and China, studied whether controlling the mixing between acceptor and donor layers (or domains) in polymer-based solar cells could increase their efficiency.
Lamination Technique May Result in Cheaper, Better OPV Devices
09 October 2012POSTED IN Research
A researcher at Flinders University in Adelaide, South Australia, is taking a new approach to fabricating large-scale plastic solar cells, a lamination technique. Potentially, this promising alternative to the existing sandwich process is not only cheaper, easier (it does not require vacuum conditions) and faster but will produce better performing organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices.
PV Production Techniques
08 October 2012POSTED IN Applications Features
The massive drop in module prices in the photovoltaics industry is to a large part caused by overcapacities and competition amongst manufacturers. However, continuous improvement of production techniques plays a role here in the crystalline and thin-film world.
Fraunhofer PV Charts Benchmark Solar Cell Types, Efficiencies
29 September 2012POSTED IN Research
Can’t keep all the latest solar technologies straight? Do not despair. The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE) now has plans to release a long overdue comparison of the different types of solar cells, their designs and their performance, the so-called Fraunhofer ISE PV Charts, where manufacturers can enter their cells.
Honeywell Introduces Film to Keep Black Solar Panels Cool
25 September 2012POSTED IN New Products
Honeywell announced today that it has introduced a new black laminate film designed to help make black solar panels cooler and more efficient.
Atlas Full-Spectrum Monitoring Device
25 September 2012POSTED IN New Products
To help customers show objective evidence that they are in compliance with test specifications during ISO 17025 quality audits, Atlas is offering the Atlas LS-200 Full Spectrum Monitoring device.
EU PVSEC 2012: Schmid’s APCVD machine achieves 20.74% efficiency in PERC cells
24 September 2012POSTED IN Business News
The Schmid Group today announced an efficiency record of 20.74% in an industry-like production process for PERC solar cells, which has been confirmed independently by the ISE CalLab.
Schmid applied the backside passivation to the PERC solar cell with its APCVD machine, which will be exhibited at EV PVSEC 2012 (booth B06, hall 3.0) in Frankfurt, Germany, 25-28 September.
