Solar energy that doesn't block the view

Solar Energy News -- ScienceDaily

Solar energy that doesn't block the view

Researchers have developed a new type of solar concentrator that when placed over a window creates solar energy while allowing people to actually see through the window. It is called a transparent luminescent solar concentrator and can be used on buildings, cell phones and any other device that has a flat, clear surface.

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Organic photovoltaic cells of the future: Using charge formation efficiency to screen materials for future devices

Solar Energy News -- ScienceDaily

Organic photovoltaic cells of the future: Using charge formation efficiency to screen materials for future devices

Organic photovoltaic cells -- a type of solar cell that uses polymeric materials to capture sunlight -- show tremendous promise as energy conversion devices, thanks to key attributes such as flexibility and low-cost production, but have complex power conversion processes. To maneuver around this problem, researchers have developed a method to determine the absolute value of the charge formation efficiency. The secret of their method is the combination of two types of spectroscopy.

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Recycling old car batteries into solar cells: Environmental twofer could recycle lead batteries to make solar cells

Solar Energy News -- ScienceDaily

Recycling old car batteries into solar cells: Environmental twofer could recycle lead batteries to make solar cells

This could be a classic win-win solution: A system proposed by researchers recycles materials from discarded car batteries -- a potential source of lead pollution -- into new, long-lasting solar panels that provide emissions-free power.

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Insights into a new class of semiconducting materials

Solar Energy News -- ScienceDaily

Insights into a new class of semiconducting materials

A new paper describes investigations of the fundamental optical properties of a new class of semiconducting materials known as organic-inorganic 'hybrid' perovskites.

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Making eco-friendly 'pre-fab nanoparticles': Versatile, water-soluble nano-modules

Solar Energy News -- ScienceDaily

Making eco-friendly 'pre-fab nanoparticles': Versatile, water-soluble nano-modules

Materials chemists, polymer scientists and device physicists have reported on a breakthrough technique for controlling assembly of nanoparticles over multiple length scales that may allow cheaper, ecologically friendly manufacture of organic photovoltaics and other electronic devices.

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Simulation models optimize water power

Solar Energy News -- ScienceDaily

Simulation models optimize water power

The Columbia River basin in the Pacific Northwest offers great potential for water power; hydroelectric power stations there generate over 20,000 megawatts already. Now a simulation model will help optimize the operation of the extensive dam system.

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LEDs made from 'wonder material' perovskite

Solar Energy News -- ScienceDaily

LEDs made from 'wonder material' perovskite

Colourful LEDs made from a material known as perovskite could lead to LED displays which are both cheaper and easier to manufacture in future. A hybrid form of perovskite -- the same type of material which has recently been found to make highly efficient solar cells that could one day replace silicon -- has been used to make low-cost, easily manufactured LEDs, potentially opening up a wide range of commercial applications in future, such as flexible color displays.

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New material allows for ultra-thin solar cells

Solar Energy News -- ScienceDaily

New material allows for ultra-thin solar cells

Extremely thin, semi-transparent, flexible solar cells could soon become reality. Scientists have managed to create a semiconductor structure consisting of two ultra-thin layers, which appears to be excellently suited for photovoltaic energy conversion. Several months ago, the team had already produced an ultra-thin layer of the photoactive crystal tungsten diselenide. Now, this semiconductor has successfully been combined with another layer made of molybdenum disulphide, creating a designer-material that may be used in future low-cost solar cells.

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Scientists shine bright new light on how living things capture energy from the sun

Solar Energy News -- ScienceDaily

Scientists shine bright new light on how living things capture energy from the sun

Scientists may have uncovered a new method of exploiting the power of sunlight by focusing on a naturally occurring combination of lipids that have been strikingly conserved throughout evolution.

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Solar energy: Dyes help harvest light

Solar Energy News -- ScienceDaily

Solar energy: Dyes help harvest light

A new dye-sensitized solar cell absorbs a broad range of visible and infrared wavelengths. Dye-sensitized solar cells rely on dyes that absorb light to mobilize a current of electrons and are a promising source of clean energy. Scientists have now developed zinc porphyrin dyes that harvest light in both the visible and near-infrared parts of the spectrum.

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