The best hope for cheap, super-efficient solar power is a remarkable family of crystalline materials called hybrid perovskites. In just five years of development, hybrid perovskite solar cells have attained power conversion ...
Condensed Matter
Mar 16, 2015
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A major limitation in the performance of solar cells happens within the photovoltaic material itself: When photons strike the molecules of a solar cell, they transfer their energy, producing quasi-particles called excitons—an ...
Condensed Matter
Sep 21, 2014
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This could be a classic win-win solution: A system proposed by researchers at MIT recycles materials from discarded car batteries—a potential source of lead pollution—into new, long-lasting solar panels that provide emissions-free ...
Energy & Green Tech
Aug 18, 2014
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(Phys.org) —Perovskite materials are the newest contender for breaking the silicon ceiling in solar cell technology. But they don't just absorb light. Cambridge researchers have found they emit it like a laser, opening ...
General Physics
Jun 27, 2014
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Solar-cell technology has advanced rapidly, as hundreds of groups around the world pursue more than two dozen approaches using different materials, technologies, and approaches to improve efficiency and reduce costs. Now ...
Nanophysics
May 28, 2014
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In the quest to make sun power more competitive, researchers are designing ultrathin solar cells that cut material costs. At the same time they're keeping these thin cells efficient by sculpting their surfaces with photovoltaic ...
Nanomaterials
Apr 22, 2014
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A new approach to harvesting solar energy, developed by MIT researchers, could improve efficiency by using sunlight to heat a high-temperature material whose infrared radiation would then be collected by a conventional photovoltaic ...
Nanophysics
Jan 19, 2014
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Organic solar cells have long been touted as lightweight, low-cost alternatives to rigid solar panels made of silicon. Dramatic improvements in the efficiency of organic photovoltaics have been made in recent years, yet the ...
Materials Science
Nov 19, 2013
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(Phys.org) —For solar panels, wringing every drop of energy from as many photons as possible is imperative. This goal has sent chemistry, materials science and electronic engineering researchers on a quest to boost the ...
Nanophysics
Nov 11, 2013
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(Phys.org) —Researchers at Oxford Photovoltaics and other companies investigating the use of perovskite—a crystalline organometal—as a replacement for silicon in photovoltaic cells have created prototypes that are approximately ...
