New world record efficiency for thin film silicon solar cells
The Photovoltaics-Laboratory (PV-Lab) of EPFL's Insitute of Microengineering (IMT), founded in 1984 by Prof. Arvind Shah and now headed by Prof. Christophe Ballif, is well known as a pioneer in the...
View ArticlePeel-and-stick solar cells
It may be possible soon to charge cell phones, change the tint on windows, or power small toys with peel-and-stick versions of solar cells, thanks to a partnership between Stanford University and the...
View ArticleSolar panels as inexpensive as paint? It's possible due to new research
(Phys.org) —Most Americans want the U.S. to place more emphasis on developing solar power, recent polls suggest. A major impediment, however, is the cost to manufacture, install and maintain solar...
View ArticleDye-sensitized solar cells rival conventional cell efficiency
Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have many advantages over their silicon-based counterparts. They offer transparency, low cost, and high power conversion efficiencies under cloudy and artificial...
View ArticleThe best of two worlds: Solar hydrogen production breakthrough
Using a simple solar cell and a photo anode made of a metal oxide, HZB and TU Delft scientists have successfully stored nearly five percent of solar energy chemically in the form of hydrogen. This is a...
View ArticleAuto lubricant could rev up medical imaging
Engineers at the University of California, Berkeley, have built a device that could speed up medical imaging without breaking the bank. The key ingredient? An engine lubricant called molybdenum...
View ArticleLight-induced degradation in amorphous silicon thin film solar cells: New...
Researchers at the Helmholtz Center Berlin (HZB) have taken a leap forward towards a deeper understanding of an undesired effect in thin film solar cells based on amorphous silicon – one that has...
View ArticleTransparent, color solar cells fuse energy, beauty
(Phys.org) —Colorful, see-through solar cells invented at the University of Michigan could one day be used to make stained-glass windows, decorations and even shades that turn the sun's energy into...
View ArticlePanasonic solar cell achieves world's highest energy conversion efficiency of...
Panasonic Corporation today announced that it has achieved a conversion efficiency of 25.6% (cell area: 143.7 cm²) in its HIT solar cells, a major increase over the previous world record for...
View ArticleX-ray detector on plastic delivers medical imaging performance
Researchers from Holst Centre and imec have demonstrated the first ever X-ray detector produced on a plastic substrate that is capable of medical-grade performance. The proof-of-concept device delivers...
View ArticleA cool approach to flexible electronics
A nanoparticle ink that can be used for printing electronics without high-temperature annealing presents a possible profitable approach for manufacturing flexible electronics.
View ArticleFrom thin silicate films to the atomic structure of glass
Glass ranks as one of the most important materials of our age. You have only to think about smartphones, or drinking glasses, or look out of the window to realise that glass in its various forms is...
View ArticlePolymer mold makes perfect silicon nanostructures
Using molds to shape things is as old as humanity. In the Bronze Age, the copper-tin alloy was melted and cast into weapons in ceramic molds. Today, injection and extrusion molding shape hot liquids...
View ArticleRecord efficiency with tandem solar cells
On Thursday Alice Furlan receives her PhD for her study in which she experimented with stacking different types of material layers in flexible, thin solar cells. By combining these with a thin layer of...
View ArticleSilicon holograms harness the full visible spectrum to bring holographic...
We can't yet send holographic videos to Obi-Wan Kenobi on our droid, but A*STAR researchers have got us a little bit closer by creating holograms from an array of silicon structures that work...
View ArticleSeeing silicon crystal transform to amorphous
A team of researchers led by the University of Pittsburgh's Scott X. Mao has observed at atomic scale a previously unknown mechanism of shear-driven crystal to amorphously transform in silicon. The...
View ArticleThermoelectric silicon material reaches record-low thermal conductivity
(Phys.org)—Researchers have theoretically demonstrated the lowest rate of heat transfer, or thermal conductivity, in any silicon-based material developed so far.
View ArticleLithium ion batteries may benefit from porous amorphous silicon anodes
Next-generation anodes for lithium ion batteries will probably no longer be made of graphite. Silicon, which is a related material, can provide a much higher capacity than graphite, but its...
View ArticleSolar smart window could offer privacy and light control on demand
Smart windows get darker to filter out the sun's rays on bright days, and turn clear on cloudy days to let more light in. This feature can help control indoor temperatures and offers some privacy...
View ArticleNew modeling method focuses attention on amorphous material's unusual...
Asegun Henry wants to avert the worst effects of climate change by finding new forms of renewable energy and improving the materials that contribute to energy use.
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