News tagged with silicon solar

Scientists investigate mystery of telephone cord buckles

(PhysOrg.com) -- Ranging in thickness from a few nanometers to several micrometers, thin films and coatings play a role in a wide variety of applications. The reflective metal layer on a mirror, the coatings ...

Physics / General Physics

created Mar 27, 2012 | popularity 3.8 / 5 (4) | comments 4 | with audio podcast feature

Cost-cutting drives solar cell process at Twin Creeks

(PhysOrg.com) -- A San Jose, California, startup company, Twin Creeks Technologies, says it has figured out a way to substantially cut the cost of making silicon solar cells. The company’s technology ...

Technology / Energy & Green Tech

created Mar 15, 2012 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (7) | comments 1 | with audio podcast report

Nanotrees harvest the sun's energy to turn water into hydrogen fuel

(PhysOrg.com) -- University of California, San Diego electrical engineers are building a forest of tiny nanowire trees in order to cleanly capture solar energy without using fossil fuels and harvest it for ...

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Mar 07, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (21) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

New approach aims to slash cost of solar cells

Solar-powered electricity prices could soon approach those of power from coal or natural gas thanks to collaborative research with solar start-up Ampulse Corporation at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) ...

Technology / Energy & Green Tech

created Mar 06, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 2

Computer simulations show how key properties of nanowires change as the diameter increases

Silicon nanowires are widely recognized as candidates for use in next-generation sensors, battery electrodes and solar cells, and first-principle calculations are an important tool in the development of these ...

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Feb 17, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

New tool for analyzing solar-cell materials

To make a silicon solar cell, you start with a slice of highly purified silicon crystal, and then process it through several stages involving gradual heating and cooling. But figuring out the tradeoffs involved ...

Technology / Energy & Green Tech

created Feb 07, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

The chemistry of exploding stars

(PhysOrg.com) -- Fundamental chemical processes in predecessors of our solar system are now a bit better understood: An international team led by Peter Hoppe, researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Jan 20, 2012 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (10) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

Facebook, Greenpeace in truce over data centers

(AP) -- Facebook and Greenpeace have called a truce over a clean energy feud that had the environmental group using the social network's own platform to campaign against it.

Technology / Energy & Green Tech

created Dec 15, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

First electronic optical fibers with hydrogenated amorphous silicon are developed

(PhysOrg.com) -- A new chemical technique for depositing a non-crystalline form of silicon into the long, ultra-thin pores of optical fibers has been developed by an international team of scientists in the ...

Physics / Optics & Photonics

created Dec 13, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Interdigitated back-contact silicon solar cells above 23% efficiency

Imec together with its silicon photovoltaic industrial affiliation program partners Schott Solar, Total, Photovoltech, GDF-SUEZ, Solland Solar, Kaneka and Dow Corning, have demonstrated an excellent conversion ...

Technology / Semiconductors

created Dec 02, 2011 | popularity 4 / 5 (3) | comments 1

Making a light-harvesting antenna from scratch

(PhysOrg.com) -- Sometimes when people talk about solar energy, they tacitly assume that we're stuck with some version of the silicon solar cell and its technical and cost limitations. Not so.

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Nov 29, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (15) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Nanowires could be solution for high performance solar cells

Tiny wires could help engineers realize high-performance solar cells and other electronics, according to University of Illinois researchers.

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Nov 09, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

USC team develops promising polymer for solar cells

(PhysOrg.com) -- Currently, most solar cells are based on silicon which for the most part, necessitates a rigid structure. This isn’t always ideal as some applications would benefit by material that is ...

Chemistry / Polymers

created Nov 07, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 1 | with audio podcast report

Breakthrough furnace can cut solar costs

(PhysOrg.com) -- Solar cells, the heart of the photovoltaic industry, must be tested for mechanical strength, oxidized, annealed, purified, diffused, etched, and layered.

Technology / Energy & Green Tech

created Oct 25, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (8) | comments 11 | with audio podcast

Self-organization gives rise to more efficient organic solar cells

Organic solar cells have the potential to convert sunlight into electrical energy in an economical and environmentally friendly fashion. The challenge is that they still work less efficiently than inorganic semiconductors. ...

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Oct 24, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0