Fluorine gas etches the surface of silicon into a series of angular peaks that, when viewed with a powerful microscope, look much like the pyramid pattern in the sound-proofing foam shown above. Researchers at PPPL have now modeled how these peaks form in silicon, creating a material that is highly light absorbent. Credit: Pixabay/CC0 PublicContinue reading “Black Silicon…”
Category Archives: Solar Power
Organic Solar Cells…
Prof. Li Gang invented a novel technique to achieve breakthrough efficiency with organic solar cells. Credit: Hong Kong Polytechnic University Topics: Chemistry, Green Tech, Materials Science, Photonics, Research, Solar Power Researchers from The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) have achieved a breakthrough power-conversion efficiency (PCE) of 19.31% with organic solar cells (OSCs), also known asContinue reading “Organic Solar Cells…”
Solar…
The LRESE parabolic dish: the solar reactor converts solar energy to hydrogen with an efficiency of more than 20%, producing around 0.5 kg of “green” hydrogen per day. (Courtesy: LRESE EPFL) Topics: Applied Physics, Energy, Environment, Research, Solar Power A new solar-radiation-concentrating device produces “green” hydrogen at a rate of more than 2 kilowatts whileContinue reading “Solar…”
Green Homing…
Divine light The Dean of Gloucester Cathedral, Stephen Lake, blesses the cathedral’s solar panels after the solar-energy firm MyPower installed them in November 2016. The array of PV panels generates just over 25% of the building’s electricity. (Courtesy: MyPower) Topics: Alternate Energy, Applied Physics, Battery, Chemistry, Economics, Solar Power With energy bills on the rise, plentyContinue reading “Green Homing…”
OPVs…
V. ALTOUNIAN/SCIENCE Topics: Alternate Energy, Applied Physics, Chemistry, Materials Science, Solar Power As ultrathin organic solar cells hit new efficiency records, researchers see green energy potential in surprising places. In November 2021, while the municipal utility in Marburg, Germany, was performing scheduled maintenance on a hot water storage facility, engineers glued 18 solar panels toContinue reading “OPVs…”
Solar Lilly Pads…
Topics: Climate Change, Energy, Environment, Materials Science, Solar Power Leaf-like devices that are light enough to float on water could be used to generate fuel from solar farms located on open water sources. This avenue hasn’t been explored before, according to researchers from the University of Cambridge in the UK who developed them. The newContinue reading “Solar Lilly Pads…”
Exciton Surfing…
Topics: Alternate Energy, Applied Physics, Materials Science, Nanotechnology, Solar Power Organic solar cells (OSCs) are fascinating devices where layers of organic molecules or polymers carry out light absorption and subsequent transport of energy – the tasks that make a solar cell work. Until now, the efficiency of OSCs has been thought to be constrained byContinue reading “Exciton Surfing…”
Colloidal Quantum Dots…
Topics: Energy, Materials Science, Nanotechnology, Quantum Mechanics, Solar Power ABSTRACTSolution-processed colloidal quantum dot (CQD) solar cells are lightweight, flexible, inexpensive, and can be spray-coated on various substrates. However, their power conversion efficiency is still insufficient for commercial applications. To further boost CQD solar cell efficiency, researchers need to better understand and control how charge carriersContinue reading “Colloidal Quantum Dots…”
Physics and Nano 