Getting energy from sunlight: Plants have it down; humans have not quite got the knack for it. Hybrid systems made from natural and synthetic components could open new routes for harvesting solar energy. Italian researchers ...
Materials Science
Oct 24, 2012
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Nature's process for storing solar energy occurs in light-absorbing protein complexes called photosynthetic reaction centers (RCs). Across billions of years of evolution, Nature has retained a common light-absorbing hexameric ...
Nanophysics
Apr 18, 2012
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Physicists from the University of Stuttgart show the first experimental proof of a molecule consisting of two identical atoms that exhibits a permanent electric dipole moment. This observation contradicts the classical opinion ...
General Physics
Nov 25, 2011
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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. ...
Nanomaterials
Oct 24, 2011
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The biggest obstacle to making use of solar energy has been the excessively high price of solar cells made of inorganic semiconductors. In contrast, solar cells based on semiconducting polymers are affordable, light, thin, ...
Nanomaterials
Sep 16, 2011
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Like atomic-level bricklayers, researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory are using a precise atom-by-atom layering technique to fabricate an ultrathin transistor-like ...
Superconductivity
Apr 27, 2011
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A dramatic and surprising magnetic effect of light discovered by University of Michigan researchers could lead to solar power without traditional semiconductor-based solar cells.
General Physics
Apr 14, 2011
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory and Los Alamos National Laboratory have fabricated transparent thin films capable of absorbing light and generating electric ...
Nanomaterials
Nov 3, 2010
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A team of researchers from North Carolina State University and the U.K. has found that the low rate of energy conversion in all-polymer solar-cell technology is caused by the structure of the solar cells ...
Nanomaterials
Oct 5, 2010
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A Rydberg atom is one with an electron that spends most of its time far from the nucleus. Rydberg atoms, which are normally artificially produced, can have dimensions thousands of times larger than typical ...
General Physics
Jun 21, 2010
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