In one of the first experiments to take place on the outside of the International Space Station (ISS), a new type of 3D-textured solar cell will soak up 16 sunrises everyday from the “back porch” of the orbiting research vessel. The carbon nanotube cell was designed by Georgia Tech Professor W. Jud Ready, and it features an experimental 3D coating that “traps” light. In Earth-based tests the next-gen solar cells have yielded a greater efficiency than conventional flat solar cells.

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Post tags: 3d solar, Carbon Nanotube, carbon solar, georgia tech, international space station, iss, jud ready, solar efficiency, solar film, space research, textured solar, thin flim solar

Researchers from Georgia Institute of Technology‘s Center for Organic Photonics and Electronics (COPE), in collaboration with Purdue University have unveiled a new efficient, recyclable organic solar cell made from trees—or, more specifically, from a substrate that can be sourced not only from trees but from other plants as well. These efficient polymer solar cells are then fabricated on cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) substrates to create a more sustainable solar cell that can be quickly recycled in room-temperature water.

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Post tags: cellulose nanocrystal substrates, conversion efficiency, Georgia Institute of Technology, organic cells, perdue university, plant substrates, polymer cells, recyclable materials, Recycled Materials, Solar cells, solar cells from trees, solar efficiency, solar trees

A team of researchers at MIT have developed a more efficient photovoltaic solar cell using particles known as quantum dots. The benefit of using quantum dots is that they can be produced cheaply, and the solar cells can be manufactured at room temperature, unlike silicon and other PV materials, which require high-temperature processing. Using a new technique, the scientists embedded the quantum dots in a ‘forest of nanowires,’ which will help the team to achieve higher efficiency ratios.

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Post tags: "solar energy", massachusetts institute of technology, MIT, nanowires, photovoltaic, qauntum dot solar cell, quantum dots, Solar Cell, solar efficiency, solar panel, Solar Power

While silicon has long been the standard for commercial solar cells, new research from the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO) in Spain has shown that graphene could prove far more efficient when it comes to transforming light into energy. The study found that unlike silicon, which generates only one current-driving electron for each photon it absorbs, graphene can produce multiple electrons. Though the application of graphene in solar cells is only theoretical, the potential outlined in the study is remarkable; solar cells made with graphene could offer 60% solar cell efficiency – double the widely-regarded maximum efficiency of silicon cells.

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Post tags: carbon solar cells, Frank Koppens, graphene, Institute of Photonic Sciences, photovoltaic panels, renewable energy, silicon solar, Solar cells, solar efficiency, solar materials, solar panels

Just last year, Republican lawmakers were trying to tarnish First Solar, Inc, because the Department of Energy provided loan guarantees to the company. But politics couldn’t sink the word’s largest producer of thin-film solar panels; this week, the company announced that it set a new world record for cadmium-telluride solar cell conversion by achieving 18.7 percent efficiency. That still isn’t as efficient as some other types of solar systems, but because thin-film solar panels are cheap and easy to produce, it represents a major breakthrough.

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Post tags: "solar energy", cadmium-telluride, CdTe, first solar, renewable energy, solar efficiency, solar efficiency record, solar farm, solar panels, Solar Power, solar technology, thin film, thin-film solar panels, world record

When V3Solar released information about their Spin Cell photovoltaic cones last year, the details already looked remarkably impressive; they have a smaller physical footprint than flat photovoltaic cells and the capacity to generate up to 20 times more energy for the same surface area. Now Clean Technica has estimates for the Levelized Cost of Electricity from these cones, and—if V3Solar’s calculations are correct—the Spin Cell could be truly revolutionary. Citing a “conservative” estimate, V3Solar states that the cones can generate electricity for eight cents per kWh. Not only is that radically cheaper than current averages for solar PV electricity—28 cents per kWh—but it’s two-thirds of the cost of current retail electricity.

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Post tags: conical solar, photovoltaic energy, renewable energy LCOE, solar cones, solar cost, solar efficiency, solar panels, Solar Power, solar PV cost, solar technology, solar USA, spin cell, v3 solar, v3solar

Butterflies are beautiful, delicate marvels of nature. While their lovely appearance may be inspiring, there’s nothing a butterfly can teach us about renewable energy – or is there? An ambitious University of Pennsylvania professor named Shu Yang recently used holographic lithography to develop a material that mimics the iridescent and water-resistant qualities of butterfly wings. The project garnered enough attention that the teacher landed a grant to develop butterfly-inspired hydrophobic coatings for drier, cleaner and hence more efficient solar panels.

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Post tags: Butterflies, butterfly wings, holographic lithography, Shu Yang, solar efficiency, solar panels, University of Pennsylvania

The future of solar power is about to get a little brighter with new developments in black silicon, a material that can absorb almost the entire spectrum of light – including infrared. Researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany were recently able to double the efficiency of black silicon solar cells, and the team is also hoping to combine a conventional panel (which can only capture three quarters of the spectrum) with black silicon to create a super-efficient cell that can harness the the full power of the sun.

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Post tags: black silicon, dr. stefan kontermann, Fraunhofer Institute, germany, infrared, Laser, photovoltaic panel, Solar cells, solar efficiency, solar panel

If there’s one constant among the vast majority of solar panel designs, it’s flatness; while solar panels can be equipped to tilt to follow the sun’s path through the course of the day, there are still significant efficiency limitations to this basic design. V3Solar’s rather elegant photovoltaic Spin Cell cones aim to address that, and their current prototype was recently third-party verified as capable of generating “over 20 times more electricity than a static flat panel with the same area of photovoltaic cells.”

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Post tags: photovoltaic cones, photovoltaic efficiency, renewable energy, solar cones, solar design, solar efficiency, solar panels, solar trees, spinning solar, unusual solar configuration, v3 solar

For decades, paper mills have long used a thick sticky byproduct of the wood-pulping process—”Brown Liqour”— as a combustible fuel to keep the mills in motion. Now a collaborative research project by scientists at Linköping University in Sweden and Poznan University of Technology in Poland has found a way to transform this “brown liqour” into a battery cathode which could cut out the need for expensive rare metals used in batteries such as cobalt. While we may not be huge fans of cutting down trees, the brown liquor tech could reduce the cost of batteries and has the potential to increase our ability to store and distribute solar and wind power.

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Post tags: battery cathode, brown liquor, cobalt battery, energy storage, Grzegorz Milczarek, Lignin Battery, Linköping University, Olle Inganas, Poznan University, rare metals, renewable energy, solar efficiency

A team of chemists at the University of California, Davis believe that the future of solar technology may lie in cells made from a film of tiny silver nitrate fractal trees. The research team, led by Professor Frank Osterloh, believes that by harnessing the conductive power of these fractal trees, they might create “better, more efficient solar cells” than the silicon-based photovoltaic panels currently available.

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Post tags: "solar energy", electrochemical reduction, fractal trees, frank osterloh, osterloh research lab, photovoltaic panels, silver fractals, silver nitrate, solar efficiency, tin oxide, university of california davis

Scientists are always looking for ways to increase the efficiency of renewable energy, and now researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are utilizing viruses to enhance the efficiency of solar cells at the microscopic level. In an article in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, the scientists revealed that viruses could be used to organize carbon nanotubes in dye-sensitized solar cells, reaping efficiency gains of a full third.

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Post tags: carbon nanotubes, carbon nanotubes m3 virus, dye-sensitized solar cells, Solar cells, solar efficiency, virus solar cells