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 ...
Mar 27, 2012 |
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Millions of molecules screened in search for the ideal organic solar cell material
(PhysOrg.com) -- Currently, the cost of electricity from commercial silicon solar cells is about 10 times higher than the cost of utility-scale electricity. In order to make solar cells cost-competitive with ...
Sep 12, 2011 |
4.8 / 5 (21) |
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Study raises questions on what causes silicon solar cell degradation
(PhysOrg.com) -- After several hours of exposure to sunlight, silicon solar cells experience light-induced degradation, which can decrease their efficiency by up to 10%. In a new study, scientists have attempted ...
Jun 03, 2011 |
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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 ...
Mar 07, 2012 |
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Silicon nanohole solar cells aim to make photovoltaics cost-competitive
(PhysOrg.com) -- Due to the increasing demand for renewable energy sources, photovoltaic solar cells have advanced significantly over the past decade. Since 2002, photovoltaic production worldwide has been ...
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
May 07, 2010 |
4.5 / 5 (26) |
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Porphyrin Dimers Increase Efficiency of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells
(PhysOrg.com) -- Porphyrins are most commonly thought of as the pigment in red blood cells, but now scientists have found that porphyrins can also be used to increase the efficiency of an inexpensive type ...
Oct 30, 2009 |
4.4 / 5 (14) |
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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
Mar 15, 2012 |
4.6 / 5 (7) |
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Solar cells thinner than wavelengths of light hold huge power potential
(PhysOrg.com) -- Ultra-thin solar cells can absorb sunlight more efficiently than the thicker, more expensive-to-make silicon cells used today, because light behaves differently at scales around a nanometer, ...
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Sep 27, 2010 |
4.8 / 5 (46) |
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'Cling-film' solar cells could lead to advance in renewable energy
(PhysOrg.com) -- A scientific advance in renewable energy which promises a revolution in the ease and cost of using solar cells, has been announced today. A new study shows that even when using very simple ...
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Jul 04, 2011 |
4.5 / 5 (10) |
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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.
Nov 29, 2011 |
4.8 / 5 (15) |
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'Swiss cheese' design enables thin film silicon solar cells with potential for higher efficiencies
A bold new design for thin film solar cells that requires significantly less silicon – and may boost their efficiency – is the result of an industry/academia collaboration between Oerlikon Solar ...
May 06, 2011 |
5 / 5 (4) |
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Graphene electrodes for organic solar cells
A promising approach for making solar cells that are inexpensive, lightweight and flexible is to use organic (that is, carbon-containing) compounds instead of expensive, highly purified silicon. But one stubborn ...
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Jan 06, 2011 |
4.9 / 5 (16) |
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Trapping Sunlight with Silicon Nanowires
(PhysOrg.com) -- Berkeley Lab researchers have found a better way to trap light in photovoltaic cells through the use of vertical arrays of silicon nanowires. This could substantially cut the costs of solar ...
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Mar 03, 2010 |
4.5 / 5 (28) |
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Cheaper Solar Power's Time Has Come
(PhysOrg.com) -- Solar power manufacturers in the US are cutting prices to shift their stock, the government is chipping in with tax credits, and innovative leasing or financing arrangements spreading payments ...
Technology / Energy & Green Tech
Sep 07, 2009 |
4.4 / 5 (22) |
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New inexpensive way to grow silicon microwires for sensors, batteries and solar cells
Microwires made of silicon -- tiny wires with a thickness comparable to a human hair — have a wide range of possible uses, including the production of solar cells that can harvest much more sunlight for ...
Feb 04, 2011 |
4.8 / 5 (5) |
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