One way that scientists control the structure of materials at the nanoscale – where features are a few to several hundred nanometers (nm) – is by using "self-assembly," in which molecules are designed such that they spontaneously ...
Nanomaterials
Apr 11, 2018
0
33
One of the problems for Javier Vela and the chemists in his Iowa State University research group was that a toxic material worked so well in solar cells.
Materials Science
Mar 14, 2018
0
23
Solar and renewable energy is getting hot, thanks to nanoscientists—those who work with materials smaller than the width of a human hair—at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory who have discovered ...
General Physics
Dec 21, 2017
0
127
Researchers have quantified the astonishingly high speeds at which future solar cells would have to operate in order to stretch what are presently seen as natural limits on their energy conversion efficiency.
General Physics
Sep 21, 2017
3
317
A natural process that occurs during photosynthesis could lead to the design of more efficient artificial solar cells, according to researchers at Georgia State University.
Energy & Green Tech
Aug 29, 2017
0
645
To understand the nature of something extremely complex, you often have to study its smallest parts. In trying to decipher the universe, for example, we search for gravitational waves or faint waves of light from the Big ...
Nanophysics
Jun 9, 2017
0
332
A material with the perovskite crystal structure has become very popular for solar cells. While most perovskites are inorganic compounds, this new material is a hybrid of relatively inexpensive organic and inorganic materials. ...
Condensed Matter
Mar 21, 2017
0
9
An organic-inorganic hybrid material may be the future for more efficient technologies that can generate electricity from either light or heat or devices that emit light from electricity.
Nanomaterials
Feb 13, 2017
0
11
As solar cells produce a greater proportion of total electric power, a fundamental limitation remains: the dark of night when solar cells go to sleep. Lithium-ion batteries, the commonplace batteries used in everything ...
Materials Science
Sep 22, 2016
0
854
Designers of solar cells may soon be setting their sights higher, as a discovery by a team of researchers has revealed a class of materials that could be better at converting sunlight into energy than those currently being ...
Optics & Photonics
Aug 8, 2016
1
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