University Research
Modeling of Disordered Materials
01 July 2012POSTED IN Research
A multidisciplinary team of physicists, chemists and mathematicians at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, Massachusetts (US), and a computer scientist at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid in Spain has found a new mathematical approach to simulating the electronic behavior of noncrystalline materials that lack an orderly crystal structure, which could expedite the search for better solar cell materials.
Exciton Research Rewrites Design Rules for Polymers
25 June 2012POSTED IN Research
Lin X. Chen at the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory is taking a fresh approach to improving organic solar cells by investigating the exciton, a “quasi-particle” few other researchers have focused on in the quest to help this promising yet seemingly lab-bound technology break out into the real world.
UC Berkeley Hosts Siemens' 2012 Solar Exchange West
21 June 2012POSTED IN Applications News
The Siemens-hosted Solar Exchange West heads to the University of California at Berkeley on 1 August for a day of dialogue on the latest emerging topics, innovations and trends within the solar industry.
"Star Material" Boosts Dye-Sensitised Solar Cells 25%
18 June 2012POSTED IN Research
Australian researchers say they have increased the efficiency of third-generation solar cells by at least 25%. The semiconductor in the new dye-sensitised solar cell (DSC) developed at the RMIT University in Melbourne is made from niobia instead of the traditional titania. Niobium pentoxide (Nb2O5) is an inexpensive, chemically stable and environmentally friendly material. Could this metal oxide indeed be the star material solar researchers had been looking for?
Stanford U Says Solar Looks Bright
15 June 2012POSTED IN Business News
The future of solar power looks bright, according to a “The Prospects for Cost-Competitive Solar PV Power,” a new working paper by Stefan Reichelstein, William R. Timken Professor of Accounting at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and Michael Yorston, graduate student in the Department of Management Science and Engineering at Stanford University.
Intersolar Europe 2012: CEO forum on turning today’s challenges into tomorrow’s opportunities
15 June 2012POSTED IN Editors Blogs
The CEO panel discussion concluded the second day of the Intersolar Europe 2012 and brought together four industry leaders, namely Dr. Peng Fang, CEO of JA Solar Holdings, Udo Möhrstedt, CEO of IBC Solar AG, Rafael Schröer, Managing Director of Kyocera Fineceramics, and Dr. Shawn Qu, Chairman, President and CEO of Canadian Solar. It was agreed among the panelists that crystalline silicon will continue to dominate the market in the years to come. Cell efficiency will further improve but be limited at a level below 25%.
Can Proton-Coupled Electron Transfer Boost Solar Cell Efficiency?
15 June 2012POSTED IN Research
Scientists at the University of Washington, Seattle, Washington (US), are building a new fundamental understanding of reactions in which a proton and an electron are transferred together (proton-coupled electron transfer — or PCET). Taking a second look at previously undervalued chemical reactions on the surface of metal oxides, such as titanium dioxide and zinc oxide, the researchers have determined these reactions could be key to more efficient solar cells.
US PV Manufacturing Consortium Selects Leaders
13 June 2012POSTED IN Business News
The US Photovoltaic Manufacturing Consortium (PVMC), an industry-led collaboration headquartered at the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (CNSE) of the University at Albany in New York that is designed to accelerate next-generation solar photovoltaic (PV) technologies, has selected a trio of leading solar industry executives to guide development of the first-ever US CIGS PV Roadmap.
Impurities Affect Efficiency of CIGS Solar Cells
13 June 2012POSTED IN Research
The conductivity of the molybdenum back contact affects the efficiency of the entire CIGS solar cell. In recent months, researchers from Austrian material supplier Plansee and the Technische Universität (TU) Bergakademie Freiberg, Germany have been investigating defects in molybdenum thin films and their effect on electrical conductivity. At the ICMCTF Conference in California, (US) Harald Köstenbauer, a developer of thin-film materials at Plansee, explained what it is that impairs conductivity in molybdenum thin films. The biggest troublemakers are impurities and incorrect process temperatures during sputtering.
Leaky Grätzel Cell Problem May be Solved
11 June 2012POSTED IN Research
Interdisciplinary discourse mixed with a dose of serendipity — that was the recipe for research success at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois (US), where a nanoparticles expert and a chemist have created the first all-solid-state dye-sensitized solar cell (DSC) system that promises to exceed the performance of the Grätzel cell.
Boosting Graphene Solar Cell Efficiency to 8.6%
31 May 2012POSTED IN Research
Researchers at the University of Florida (UFL) in Gainesville, Florida (US) achieved the highest power conversion efficiency yet for a graphene-based solar cell after adding an organic dopant: 8.6% — that is more than for times the efficiency of undoped devices.
Toward Continuous and Portable Solar Fuel
30 May 2012POSTED IN Research
If only solar energy could be continuous and portable… In what could turn out to be a giant leap toward the creation of solar fuels, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (US) now have developed a high-speed screening method for new electrocatalysts. Efficient, earth-abundant electrocatalysts that facilitate the oxidation of water are critical to the production of solar fuels.
Glare-Free, Water-Repellent Glass with Nanoscale Cone Surface
22 May 2012POSTED IN Research
A team of researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachussetts (US) has developed an etching process to create surface nanotextures on glass in the shape of tiny cones. Adapted from the semiconductor industry, the multiple shrinking mask etching technique could make glass and polymer films anti-fog or self-cleaning, water-repellent and glare-free.
Chinese, US Researchers Collaborate on Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells with Carbon Nanotube Electrodes
02 May 2012POSTED IN Research
In a collaborative research project between Rice University, Houston, Texas (US), and Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, scientists hope to create better performing, cheaper and more robust dye-sensitized solar cells (DSC) by replacing expensive platinum with carbon nanotubes and iodine electrolyte with sulfide-based electrolyte.
Simple Thermodynamic Calculations Help Researchers Find Better Solar Cell Materials
13 May 2012POSTED IN Research
A group of European researchers have developed a thermodynamic method to better understand and even predict the reactivity and stability of substances in the manufacturing of thin-film photovoltaics, which involves high temperatures.
Must Max Efficiency Solar Cells Emit Light?
06 May 2012POSTED IN Research
Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley (US) have demonstrated that designing solar cells to absorb light as well as emit light, much like a light-emitting diode (LED), could be the key to reaching efficiencies approaching the theoretical maximum of 33.7%.
Study Shows US Solar Could Employ Hundreds of Thousands by 2020
01 May 2012POSTED IN Business News
A report released today by the Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, found that solar energy in the US is following the same path to commercialization as other traditional energy sources spurred by federal incentives. The study, titled “Assessment of Incentives and Employment Impacts of Solar Industry Deployment,” also estimates that the US solar industry could employ hundreds of thousands of Americans by the end of the decade.
HyperSolar Advances Solar to Renewable Hydrogen Conversion Process
01 May 2012POSTED IN Applications News
HyperSolar, a developer of a technology to produce renewable hydrogen using water and solar power, today announced it has successfully tested the protective coating for solar to fuel conversion, a significant milestone in protecting and stabilizing its solar nanoparticles used in the production of renewable hydrogen.
New X-Ray Technique Reveals Molecular Alignment in Solar Cells
29 April 2012POSTED IN Research
Solar researchers have long hypothesized that the alignment at the interface between an electron donor and electron acceptor molecule holds the key to more efficient organic solar cells. However, until now, no one has been able to observe what happens at the molecular level. In what could be a critical advancement for the solar industry, for the first time ever, North Carolina State University (NCSU) researchers were able to do just that with an innovative X-ray technique they discovered.
Sub-2-Micrometer-Thick Solar Cell Paves Way to Ultra-Thin OPV
24 April 2012POSTED IN Research
Researchers have unveiled a sub-2-micron-thick organic solar cell that is the result of a collaborative research project between the Johannes Kepler University (JKU), Linz (Austria), and the University of Tokyo, Tokyo (Japan). The ultrathin-film devise is thinner than a thread of spider silk; so thin and elastic, in fact, it wraps around a human hair. Demonstrating equal power conversion efficiency to their glass-based counterparts, the novel OPV cells could pave the way to solar applications such as supplying power to medical sensors built into clothing, so-called “electronic skin” and surface conforming foils.
