#New energy cell can store up solar energy for release at night A photoelectrochemical cell (PEC) is a special type of solar cell that gathers the Sun's energy
Both have been utilized individually by researchers to boost sunlight conversion to electrical current in solar cells, and to increase the efficacy of electrically-generated light.
Nanofibers-polymer filaments only a couple of hundred nanometers in diameter have a huge range of potential applications, from solar cells to water filtration to fuel cells.
where you would be able to individually control each emitter to print deposits of nanofibers. angled talenanofibers are useful for any application that benefits from a high ratio of surface area to volume solar cells, for instance,
Nanofibers-polymer filaments only a couple of hundred nanometers in diameter have a huge range of potential applications, from solar cells to water filtration to fuel cells.
where you would be able to individually control each emitter to print deposits of nanofibers. angled talenanofibers are useful for any application that benefits from a high ratio of surface area to volume solar cells, for instance,
A new technology developed by chemists at UCLA is capable of storing solar energy for up to several weeks-an advance that could change the way scientists think about designing solar cells.
To capture energy from sunlight, conventional rooftop solar cells use silicon, a fairly expensive material. There is currently a big push to make lower-cost solar cells using plastics
rather than silicon, but today plastic solar cells are relatively inefficient, in large part because the separated positive and negative electric charges often recombine before they can become electrical energy. odern plastic solar cells don have well-defined structures like plants do
The researchers are already working on how to incorporate the technology into actual solar cells. Yves Rubin, a UCLA professor of chemistry and another senior co-author of the study,
A new technology developed by chemists at UCLA is capable of storing solar energy for up to several weeks-an advance that could change the way scientists think about designing solar cells.
To capture energy from sunlight, conventional rooftop solar cells use silicon, a fairly expensive material. There is currently a big push to make lower-cost solar cells using plastics
rather than silicon, but today plastic solar cells are relatively inefficient, in large part because the separated positive and negative electric charges often recombine before they can become electrical energy. odern plastic solar cells don have well-defined structures like plants do
The researchers are already working on how to incorporate the technology into actual solar cells. Yves Rubin, a UCLA professor of chemistry and another senior co-author of the study,
#Reshaping the solar spectrum to turn light to electricity Researchers find a way to use the infrared region of the sun's spectrum to make solar cells more efficient.
When it comes to installing solar cells, labor cost and the cost of the land to house them constitute the bulk of the expense.
The solar cells made often of silicon or cadmium telluride rarely cost more than 20 percent of the total cost.
best achieved if each solar cell could be coaxed to generate more power. A huge gain in this direction has now been made by a team of chemists at the University of California
spectrum passes right through the photovoltaic materials that make up today solar cells, explained Christopher Bardeen, a professor of chemistry.
an assistant professor of chemistry. his is lost energy, no matter how good your solar cell. The hybrid material we have come up with first captures two infrared photons that would normally pass right through a solar cell without being converted to electricity,
then adds their energies together to make one higher energy photon. This upconverted photon is absorbed readily by photovoltaic cells,
generating electricity from light that normally would be wasted. ardeen added that these materials are essentially eshaping the solar spectrumso that it better matches the photovoltaic materials used today in solar cells.
The ability to utilize the infrared portion of the solar spectrum could boost solar photovoltaic efficiencies by 30 percent or more.
providing a route to higher efficiencies. his 550-nanometer light can be absorbed by any solar cell material,
#Reshaping the solar spectrum to turn light to electricity Researchers find a way to use the infrared region of the sun's spectrum to make solar cells more efficient.
When it comes to installing solar cells, labor cost and the cost of the land to house them constitute the bulk of the expense.
The solar cells made often of silicon or cadmium telluride rarely cost more than 20 percent of the total cost.
best achieved if each solar cell could be coaxed to generate more power. A huge gain in this direction has now been made by a team of chemists at the University of California
spectrum passes right through the photovoltaic materials that make up today solar cells, explained Christopher Bardeen, a professor of chemistry.
an assistant professor of chemistry. his is lost energy, no matter how good your solar cell. The hybrid material we have come up with first captures two infrared photons that would normally pass right through a solar cell without being converted to electricity,
then adds their energies together to make one higher energy photon. This upconverted photon is absorbed readily by photovoltaic cells,
generating electricity from light that normally would be wasted. ardeen added that these materials are essentially eshaping the solar spectrumso that it better matches the photovoltaic materials used today in solar cells.
The ability to utilize the infrared portion of the solar spectrum could boost solar photovoltaic efficiencies by 30 percent or more.
providing a route to higher efficiencies. his 550-nanometer light can be absorbed by any solar cell material,
A new technique invented at Caltech to produce graphene--a material made up of an atom-thick layer of carbon--at room temperature could help pave the way for commercially feasible graphene-based solar cells and light-emitting diodes, large-panel displays, and flexible electronics."
Another possibility would be to grow large sheets of graphene that can be used as a transparent conducting electrode for solar cells and display panels."
Dual-type nanowire arrays can be used in applications such as LEDS and solar cells February 25th, 2015qd Vision Named Edison Award Finalist for Innovative Color IQ Quantum dot Technology
New cheap and efficient electrode for splitting water March 18th, 2015a new method for making perovskite solar cells March 16th, 2015uc research partnership explores how to best harness solar power March 2nd,
2015researchers enable solar cells to use more sunlight February 25th, 201 2
#Rice fine-tunes quantum dots from coal: Rice university scientists gain control of electronic, fluorescent properties of coal-based graphene Abstract:
Dual-type nanowire arrays can be used in applications such as LEDS and solar cells February 25th, 2015ultra-thin nanowires can trap electron'twisters'that disrupt superconductors February 24th, 2015discoveries Quantum computing:
2015researchers enable solar cells to use more sunlight February 25th, 2015display technology/LEDS/SS Lighting/OLEDS Breakthrough in OLED technology March 2nd,
Dual-type nanowire arrays can be used in applications such as LEDS and solar cells February 25th, 2015qd Vision Named Edison Award Finalist for Innovative Color IQ Quantum dot Technology February 23rd,
2015researchers enable solar cells to use more sunlight February 25th, 2015detecting defects at the nanoscale will profit solar panel production:
#Fine-tuned molecular orientation is key to more efficient solar cells Polymer-based solar cells offer a number of potential advantages.
and Kazuo Takimiya of the RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science managed to create a type of polymer solar cell called a bulk-heterojunction solar cellhere the electron donor
because we now have an understanding of how we can move forward to create polymer solar cells with greater efficiency.
May 27th, 2015fine-tuned molecular orientation is key to more efficient solar cells May 26th, 2015cancer Iranian Scientists Use Magnetic field to Transfer Anticancer Drug to Tumor Tissue May 24th,
Non-aqueous solvent supports DNA NANOTECHNOLOGY May 27th, 2015production of Copper Cobaltite Nanocomposites with Photocatalytic Properties in Iran May 27th, 2015fine-tuned molecular orientation is key to more efficient solar cells
May 27th, 2015fine-tuned molecular orientation is key to more efficient solar cells May 26th, 2015interviews/Book reviews/Essays/Reports/Podcasts/Journals/White papers Who needs water to assemble DNA?
May 27th, 2015fine-tuned molecular orientation is key to more efficient solar cells May 26th, 2015nanobiotechnology Who needs water to assemble DNA?
2015stable Perovskite Solar cells Developed through Structural Simplification June 9th, 2015materials/Metamaterials Mesoporous Particles for the Development of Drug Delivery System Safe to Human bodies June 9th,
2015stable Perovskite Solar cells Developed through Structural Simplification June 9th, 2015interviews/Book reviews/Essays/Reports/Podcasts/Journals/White papers A step towards a type 1 diabetes vaccine by using nanotherapy June 10th,
"The results--published online June 23 in the journal Nature Communications--could transform the manufacture of high-tech coatings for anti-reflective surfaces, improved solar cells,
"Quantum dots, which have use in diverse applications such as medical imaging, lighting, display technologies, solar cells, photocatalysts, renewable energy and optoelectronics, are typically expensive and complicated to manufacture.
2015nanocrystalline Thin-film Solar cells July 15th, 2015better memory with faster lasers July 14th, 2015cancer Nanospheres shield chemo drugs,
2015nanocrystalline Thin-film Solar cells July 15th, 2015better memory with faster lasers July 14th, 2015polymer mold makes perfect silicon nanostructures July 14th,
2015nanocrystalline Thin-film Solar cells July 15th, 2015polymer mold makes perfect silicon nanostructures July 14th, 2015interviews/Book reviews/Essays/Reports/Podcasts/Journals/White papers For faster,
2015grants/Awards/Scholarships/Gifts/Contests/Honors/Records Nanocrystalline Thin-film Solar cells July 15th, 2015better memory with faster lasers July 14th, 2015simpore, Uofr,
Eindhoven researchers make important step towards a solar cell that generates hydrogen A solar cell that produces fuel rather than electricity.
The material gallium phosphide enables their solar cell to produce the clean fuel hydrogen gas from liquid water.
The electricity produced by a solar cell can be used to set off chemical reactions. If this generates a fuel
Solar fuel cell To connect an existing silicon solar cell to a battery that splits the water may well be an efficient solution now
when it is a large flat surface as used in Gap solar cells. The researchers have overcome this problem by making a grid of very small Gap nanowires, measuring five hundred nanometers (a millionth of a millimeter) long and ninety nanometers thick.
and lead to faster transistors, cheaper solar cells, new types of sensors and more efficient bioelectric sensory devices.
#Rice university finding could lead to cheap, efficient metal-based solar cells: Plasmonics study suggests how to maximize production of'hot electrons'Abstract:
and reduce the costs of photovoltaic solar cells. Although the domestic solar-energy industry grew by 34 percent in 2014,
Today's most efficient photovoltaic cells use a combination of semiconductors that are made from rare and expensive elements like gallium and indium.
"The efficiency of semiconductor-based solar cells can never be extended in this way because of the inherent optical properties of the semiconductors."
UC Riverside researchers find a way to use the infrared region of the sun's spectrum to make solar cells more efficient A huge gain in this direction has now been made by a team of chemists at the University of California,
"The infrared region of the solar spectrum passes right through the photovoltaic materials that make up today's solar cells,
"This is energy lost, no matter how good your solar cell. The hybrid material we have come up with first captures two infrared photons that would normally pass right through a solar cell without being converted to electricity,
then adds their energies together to make one higher energy photon. This upconverted photon is absorbed readily by photovoltaic cells,
generating electricity from light that normally would be wasted.""Bardeen added that these materials are essentially"reshaping the solar spectrum
"so that it better matches the photovoltaic materials used today in solar cells. The ability to utilize the infrared portion of the solar spectrum could boost solar photovoltaic efficiencies by 30 percent or more.
"This 550--nanometer light can be absorbed by any solar cell material, "Bardeen said.""The key to this research is the hybrid composite material--combining inorganic semiconductor nanoparticles with organic compounds.
and industries, including laser, solar cells, production of transistors and nanomedicine. The colloid form of these particles have very interesting properties and characteristics,
Detecting excitons in metals could provide clues on how light is converted into electrical and chemical energy in solar cells and plants.
#First solar cell made of highly ordered molecular frameworks (Nanowerk News) Researchers at KIT have developed a material suited for photovoltaics.
suggest that the excellent properties of the solar cell result from an additional mechanism the formation of indirect band gaps that plays an important role in photovoltaics.
The clou is that we just need a single organic molecule in the solar cell, Wll says.
Thanks to their mechanical properties, MOF thin films of a few hundred nanometers in thickness can be used for flexible solar cells or for the coating of clothing material or deformable components.
organic materials represent a highly interesting alternative to silicon that has to be processed at high costs before it can be used for the photoactive layer of a solar cell l
A new technology developed by chemists at UCLA is capable of storing solar energy for up to several weeks an advance that could change the way scientists think about designing solar cells.
"The scientists devised a new arrangement of solar cell ingredients, with bundles of polymer donors (green rods) and neatly organized fullerene acceptors (purple, tan.
conventional rooftop solar cells use silicon, a fairly expensive material. There is currently a big push to make lower-cost solar cells using plastics, rather than silicon,
but todays plastic solar cells are relatively inefficient, in large part because the separated positive and negative electric charges often recombine before they can become electrical energy.
The researchers are already working on how to incorporate the technology into actual solar cells. Yves Rubin, a UCLA professor of chemistry and another senior co-author of the study,
"The results published online June 23 in the journal Nature Communications could transform the manufacture of high-tech coatings for anti-reflective surfaces, improved solar cells,
even at the extremely low power levels characteristic of tiny solar cells. Previous experimental ultralow-power converters had efficiencies of only 40 or 50 percent.
Where its predecessors could use a solar cell to either charge a battery or directly power a device,
Ups and downs The circuit chief function is to regulate the voltages between the solar cell, the battery,
and falls depends on the voltage generated by the solar cell, which is highly variable. So the timing of the switch throws has to vary, too.
whose selection is determined by the solar cell voltage. Once again, when the capacitor fills, the switches in the inductor path are flipped. n this technology space,
"Quantum dots, which have use in diverse applications such as medical imaging, lighting, display technologies, solar cells, photocatalysts, renewable energy and optoelectronics, are typically expensive and complicated to manufacture.
and manufacture of superconductors or high-efficiency solar cells and light sensors, said leader of the research,
and lead to faster transistors, cheaper solar cells, new types of sensors and more efficient bioelectric sensory devices.
#Improved, cheaper hybrid solar cell material created Researchers at Lithuania Kaunas University of Technology (KTU) Organic chemistry department have developed a new semiconductor material,
ffers a much cheaper alternative to those currently used in hybrid solar cells The efficiency of the new semiconductor methoxydiphenylamine-substituted carbazole,
The solar cells containing organic semiconductors created at KTU were constructed and tested by physicists at Lausanne. The tests revealed that the efficiency of the cellsconverting solar energy into electricity was 16.9%.
and incorporated into a CH3NH3PBI3 perovskite solar cell, which displayed a power conversion efficiency of 16.91,
Various electro-optical measurements were carried out to characterize the new material. rof Getautis said that the material will be used in the construction of future solar cells:
lmost all solar cells are made from inorganic semiconductors. Hybrid, semi-organic solar cells are still being developed and perfected at the research centers all over the world.
and solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells. ur paper is among the 5%of most important publications in one of the most influential chemistry journals followed by all undertaking research in the field of chemistry.
#Multilayer QD Solar cells Promising for Natcore RED BANK, N. J.,Feb 23, 2015 A new breed of quantum dots (QDS) could enable multilayer solar cells that capture more of the sun energy.
Natcore Technology Inc. said scientists in the laboratories of cofounder Dr. Andrew Barron, who is also a professor at Rice university,
have formed successfully a heterojunction solar cell using germanium QDS on an ordinary n-type silicon wafer. Individual germanium quantum dots were coated with silicon dioxide (silica),
QD solar cells have the potential to capture solar energy more efficiently than other cells available commercially today.
Tandem solar cells are used in space applications. The major issue preventing their broad use in terrestrial applications has been need the to use exotic semiconducting materials for the upper layers, according to Natcore.
it will open the door to potential ultra-high-efficiency, multijunction solar cells, the company said.
Solar cell Made Of Highly Ordered Molecular Frameworks Researchers have developed a functioning organic solar cell consisting of a single component has been produced on the basis of metal-organic framework compounds (MOFS.
suggest that the excellent properties of the solar cell result from an additional mechanism the formation of indirect band gaps that plays an important role in photovoltaics.
The metal-organic solar cell was produced on the basis of this novel porphyrine-MOF. he clou is that we just need a single organic molecule in the solar cell
MOF thin films of a few hundred nanometers in thickness can be used for flexible solar cells or for the coating of clothing material or deformable components.
organic materials represent a highly interesting alternative to silicon that has to be processed at high costs before it can be used for the photoactive layer of a solar cell.
#Solar cells that work on cloudy days just hit a record-breaking 22.1%efficiency There's been plenty of good news about solar power lately-not only are governments around the world using it more and more,
traditional solar cells simply don't work that well unless they're in direct, bright sunlight. To rectify this, researchers have been working on creating structures called black silicon solar cells,
which absorb way more light and are useful even on overcast days. But they've never been efficient enough to be real players in the solar race-up until now, that is.
A team of European researchers has announced just that they've set a new record by creating black silicon solar cells that can convert 22.1 percent of the Sun's light into electricity-an increase of almost four percent on their previous record.
While this doesn't compare to the record of 40 percent efficiency in traditional silicon solar cells,
it shows that black silicon solar cells are now real contenders that could help greatly reduce the cost of solar power in the future.
Even more impressively, the team compared their new black silicon solar cells with traditional solar cells of the same efficiency,
"What's different about black silicon solar cells is that their surfaces are covered in tiny, nanoscale ridges,
Publishing in Nature Nanotechnology, the researchers report that their resulting cells are the most efficient black silicon solar cells to date, capable of turning 22.1 percent of available light into electricity."
and black silicon solar cells have real potential for industrial production, "the authors write. What's even more exciting about this research is the fact that the team hasn't optimised the new cells as yet,
#Scientists figure out how to make solar cells produce fuel AND electricity A new type of solar cell can convert liquid water into clean hydrogen fuel 10 times more effectively than any other technology,
and uses 10,000 times less precious material in the process. Invented by researchers in The netherlands,
the secret to these new prototype solar cells are gallium phosphide nanowires, which can split water into its hydrogen
The efficiency of solar cell technology has improved dramatically over the past decade and is now providing Germany with at least half its national energy requirements.
70-metre stretch of road covered in solar cells generated enough electricity to power an household for a year.
Over the past few years, scientists have been figuring out how to take things one step further by using solar cells to produce both fuel and electricity.
Previous studies have shown that connecting an existing silicon solar cell to a water-splitting battery can produce hydrogen fuel,
and when used in big, flat sheets, it not capable of absorbing sunlight as efficiently as needed for a viable solar cell system.
and integrated them with existing solar cell technology. Not only did they end up using 10,000 less gallium phosphide than
so their solar cells can meet this 15 percent battery yield.""For the nanowires we needed 10,000 less precious Gap material than in cells with a flat surface.
"We have improved the performance of this type of solar cell from around 8 per cent efficient to 9. 3 per cent,
This discovery could help improve the performance of these solar cells, and lead to even more innovation in the coming years,"concluded Dr Jones s
like transistors and solar cells. Part of the challenge of working with nanowires is creating a good transition between these nanowires and an electrical contact to the outside world.
"Potential applications range from battery anodes, to solar cells, to 3d electronic circuits and biomedical devices.""The 3d transformation process involves a balance between the forces of adhesion to the substrate and the strain energies of the bent,
The research by the team from the Environment and Sustainability Institute (ESI) based at the University of Exeter's Penryn Campus in Cornwall is published in the journal Solar energy Materials & Solar cells.
The research is questioning the perovskite material's ability to produce stable solar cells under versatile climatic conditions.
The obtained results are very crucial in terms of perovskite solar cell growth and understanding how to make better devices s
#New technique for growing high-efficiency perovskite solar cells This week in the journal Science, Los alamos National Laboratory researchers reveal a new solution-based hot-casting technique
that allows growth of highly efficient and reproducible solar cells from large-area perovskite crystals.""These perovskite crystals offer promising routes for developing low-cost, solar-based, clean global energy solutions for the future,"said Aditya Mohite,
Solar cells composed of organic-inorganic perovskites offer efficiencies approaching that of silicon, but they have been plagued with some important deficiencies limiting their commercial viability.
The researchers fabricated planar solar cells from pervoskite materials with large crystalline grains that had efficiencies approaching 18%
#Self-assembled nanotextures create antireflective surface on silicon solar cells Reducing the amount of sunlight that bounces off the surface of solar cells helps maximize the conversion of the sun's rays to electricity,
has potential for streamlining silicon solar cell production and reducing manufacturing costs. The approach may find additional applications in reducing glare from windows, providing radar camouflage for military equipment,
"The issue with using such coatings for solar cells, "he said, "is that we'd prefer to fully capture every color of the light spectrum within the device,
The scientists started by coating the top surface of a silicon solar cell with a polymer material called a"block copolymer,
The self-assembled pattern served as a template for forming posts in the solar cell like those in the moth eye using a plasma of reactive gases-a technique commonly used in the manufacture of semiconductor electronic circuits.
The resulting surface nanotexture served to gradually change the refractive index to drastically cut down on reflection of many wavelengths of light simultaneously, regardless of the direction of light impinging on the solar cell."
Solar cells textured in this way outperform those coated with a single antireflective film by about 20 percent,
whether there are economic advantages to assembling silicon solar cells using our method, compared to other, established processes in the industry,
#Getting rid of pinholes in solar cells The pinholes, identified by OIST's Energy Materials and Surface Sciences Unit led by Prof.
The pinholes in the top layer of the solar cell, known as the hole transport layer, were identified as a key cause for the quick degradation of perovskite solar cells.
Researchers around the world are investigating the potential of perovskite, a humanmade organic-inorganic hybrid material, as an alternative to silicon-based solar cells."
"The researchers eliminated the pinholes by using a different method to create the top layer of the solar cell,
and the spiro-OMETAD molecules deposited onto the solar cell. To create this layer, a solar cell is positioned upside down on the ceiling of a vacuum chamber.
As the spiro-OMETAD is heated up, it evaporates and the gas molecules that stick to the perovskite,
"We were able to reduce the thickness of the solar cell from over 200 nanometers to 70 nanometers."
which makes the movement of"holes"carrying positive charges around the solar cell circuit much easier.""A very small difference between the top layer and perovskite material means maybe we get greater energy efficiency,
The evaporation method also resulted in a much longer-lasting solar cell. Before, the cells would lose the ability to efficiently convert sunlight into electricity after a couple of days.
While cheaper than conventional silicon-based solar cells, evaporation-based perovskite solar cells are more expensive than spin-coated cells.
#Stable perovskite solar cells developed through structural simplification Lead-halide-based perovskite (hereinafter simply referred to as perovskite) has been used as a solar cell material since six years ago.
Perovskite solar cells are promising low-cost and highly-efficient next-generation solar cells because they can be produced through low-temperature processes such as spin coating,
and generate a large amount of electricity due to their high optical absorption together with the high open-circuit voltage.
As such, the research on perovskite solar cells is making rapid progress. In order to identify the semiconducting properties of perovskites
and formulate guidelines for the development of highly efficient solar cell materials, NIMS launched an ad hoc Team on Perovskite PV Cells last October led by the deputy director-general of GREEN.
While the conventional perovskite solar cells have demonstrated high conversion efficiency, they were not sufficiently stable plagued by their low reproducibility
Researchers successfully created reproducible and stable perovskite solar cells as follows; They proposed an equivalent circuit model that explains the semiconducting properties of perovskites based on analysis of the internal resistance of perovskite solar cells.
This model indicated the existence of a charge transport process derived from an impurity level between the conduction
Due to this transport process, the efficiency of perovskite solar cells may be suppressed to some extent. In future studies, researchers will investigate into the cause of the impurity level and its influence on solar cells.
In addition, they intend to remove the impurity level and improve the efficiency of the solar cells,
thereby contributing to energy and environmental conservation. This study was conducted at GREEN as a part of the MEXT-commissioned project titled"Development of environmental technology using nanotechnology."
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