10-30-2015, 12:05 PM
Stanford university engineers have invented a transparent material that claims to improve the efficiency of solar cells by radiating thermal energy (heat) into space.
Transparent coating cools solar cells while boosting efficiency - Electronics Eetimes
Scientists of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have discovered an unconventional approach to increasing the efficiency of the solar cell panels. Optical invisibility cloaking technology enables sunlight to be guided around objects that cast a shadow on the solar panel.
Invisibility cloak focuses on enhancing solar cell efficiency - Electronics Eetimes
Last year, the company bought Silevo, a solar panel startup, for a reported $200 million and began planning its factory in western New York. The result of those moves are the new panels that Rive is unveiling today, which will produce at least 30% more power, while reducing the cost of installing solar panels on one’s roof by between 20 and 30 cents per watt. It doesn’t sound like a lot of money, but given that Solar City pays just $2.90 to install a watt of capacity, it’s a big savings.
Solar Panels Are About To Get Way, Way Better | Fast Company | Business + Innovation
Researchers at Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland, OH) have wired four perovskite solar cells in series to enhance the voltage and directly photo-charge lithium batteries with 7.8% efficiency - a performance the researchers believe is the best reported to date.
Smart2.0 - Researchers improve solar charging of Li-ion batteries
Many types of flexible electronic devices will rely on thin films of organic materials that catch sunlight and convert the light into electric current using excited states in the material called 'excitons'. Roughly speaking, an exciton is a displaced electron bound together with the hole it left behind. Increasing the distance these excitons can diffuse — before they reach a juncture where they are broken apart to produce electrical current — is essential to improving the efficiency of organic semiconductors. Using a new imaging technique, the UVM team was able to observe nanoscale defects and boundaries in the crystal grains in the thin films of phthalocyanine — roadblocks in the electron highway. “We have discovered that we have hills that electrons have to go over and potholes that they need to avoid,” explained Furis.
Can electron superhighway drives organic solar panel innovations? - Electronics Eetimes
Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE in co-operation with NexWafe have optimized all production steps for the EpiWafer which is seen as a drop-in replacement for conventional Cz wafers.The solar cells have been demonstrated to achieve a short-circuit current of 39.6 mA/cm2 which claims to be a world-record value for epitaxially grown silicon solar cells. The new results will be presented during the coming European PVSECconference in Hamburg.
Solar cell produced on EpiWafer yield 20 percent efficiency - Electronics Eetimes
The solar cells have been demonstrated to achieve a short-circuit current of 39.6 mA/cm2 which claims to be a world-record value for epitaxially grown silicon solar cells. The new results will be presented during the coming European PVSECconference in Hamburg.