News tagged with energy spectrum

Metal oxides hold the key to cheap, green energy

Harnessing the energy of sunlight can be as simple as tuning the optical and electronic properties of metal oxides at the atomic level by making an artificial crystal or super-lattice 'sandwich' says a Binghamton ...

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Apr 19, 2012 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (10) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

New kind of solar cell could capture significantly more energy than current cells

New solar cells could increase the maximum efficiency of solar panels by over 25%, according to scientists from the University of Cambridge.

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Feb 08, 2012 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (14) | comments 14 | with audio podcast

Comparing energy conversion of plants and solar cells

Scientists now have a way to more accurately compare how efficiently plants and photovoltaic, or solar, cells convert sunlight into energy, thanks to findings by a research consortium that included a U.S. ...

Technology / Energy & Green Tech

created Jan 16, 2012 | popularity 2.3 / 5 (3) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

Revolutionary new camera reveals the dark side of the Universe

(PhysOrg.com) -- A new camera that will revolutionise the field of submillimetre astronomy has been unveiled on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) in Hawaii SCUBA-2 is far more sensitive and powerful ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Dec 06, 2011 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (16) | comments 17

Swift finds a gamma-ray burst with a dual personality (w/ video)

(PhysOrg.com) -- A peculiar cosmic explosion first detected by NASA's Swift observatory on Christmas Day 2010 was caused either by a novel type of supernova located billions of light-years away or an unusual ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Nov 30, 2011 | popularity 4.1 / 5 (8) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

A single polymer can be used to fabricate both thin-film transistors and solar cells

Polymers are the material of choice for making thin-film transistors and solar cells. They are also potentially suitable for manufacture using economical, high-throughput techniques, such as roll-to-roll and inkjet printing ...

Chemistry / Polymers

created Nov 17, 2011 | popularity 3.5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Lightwave electronics at sharp metal tips

(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics control for the first time the emission of electrons from metal tips with femtosecond lasers alone.

Physics / Quantum Physics

created Jul 07, 2011 | popularity 4 / 5 (4) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

New solar product captures up to 95 percent of light energy

Efficiency is a problem with today's solar panels; they only collect about 20 percent of available light. Now, a University of Missouri engineer has developed a flexible solar sheet that captures more than 90 percent of available ...

Technology / Energy & Green Tech

created May 16, 2011 | popularity 3.5 / 5 (26) | comments 16 | with audio podcast

Clouds' effect on sunlight energy at Earth's surface depends on the wavelength of light

Bouncing around from cloud to cloud, and down to Earth, sunlight's warmth is both enhanced and blocked by clouds. Atmospheric scientists from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory found that clouds' overall ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created May 09, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (5) | comments 5

Solar power systems could lighten the load for British soldiers

A revolutionary type of personal power pack now in development could help our troops when they are engaged on the battlefield.

Technology / Energy & Green Tech

created Mar 14, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

A breakthrough for terahertz semiconductor lasers

(PhysOrg.com) -- Potential applications, says an engineering professor, include disease diagnosis and detection of concealed explosives.

Physics / General Physics

created Jan 13, 2011 | popularity 3.5 / 5 (11) | comments 3 | with audio podcast

Probing the dark side of the universe

Advancing into the next frontier in astrophysics and cosmology depends on our ability to detect the presence of a particular type of wave in space, a primordial gravitational wave. Much like ripples moving ...

Physics / General Physics

created May 20, 2010 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (15) | comments 99 | with audio podcast

High efficiency concentrator solar cells and modules

(PhysOrg.com) -- Solar energy will play a crucial role in the energy mix of tomorrow as solar energy is available in unlimited quantities. With the aid of concentrator solar cells, even more sunlight can be ...

Technology / Engineering

created May 19, 2010 | popularity 4.2 / 5 (14) | comments 10 | with audio podcast

Novel negative-index metamaterial that responds to visible light designed

A group of scientists led by researchers from the California Institute of Technology has engineered a type of artificial optical material—a metamaterial—with a particular three-dimensional structure such that ...

Physics / Optics & Photonics

created Apr 22, 2010 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (43) | comments 10 | with audio podcast

To Surf, or to Dance? Electrons' Extracurricular Activities Affect Superconductivity

(PhysOrg.com) -- Superconductors, the wonder materials that transport electricity without any resistance or energy loss, appear to be more complex than previously thought, according to research published online this week in Nature Physics by scientists at the Stanford Institute for ...

Physics / Superconductivity

created Apr 06, 2010 | popularity 5 / 5 (11) | comments 70 | with audio podcast