Silver nanoparticles can boost polymer solar cells’ electrical current generation

September 10th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Using a carbon nanotube instead of traditional silicon, Cornell University researchers have created the basic elements of a solar cell that hopefully will lead to much more efficient ways of converting light to electricity than now used in calculators and on rooftops. The researchers fabricated, tested and measured a simple solar cell called a photodiode, formed from an individual carbon nanotube.

September 14th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Researchers from the Eindhoven University of Technology and the University of Ulm in Germany have made the first high-resolution 3D images of the inside of a polymer solar cell. This gives them important new insights in the nanoscale structure of polymer solar cells and its effect on the performance.

February 27th, 2009 SYDNEY - A thin and flexible solar cell developed by researchers can also be mass produced with the help of banknote printing technology. The first of such polymer solar cells have rolled off the presses at the Melbourne-based plant that prints polymer banknotes and currency for 26 countries.

August 5th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A team of scientists has found a way to make nanostructured plastic solar cells, which are roughly 10,000 times smaller than a human hair. A research team headed by David Ginger, a University of Washington associate professor of chemistry, has developed the new technology.

August 27th, 2009 SYDNEY - A team of Australian and US researchers has set a new record for solar cell efficiency, by developing a multi-cell array that achieved an efficiency of 43 percent, beating the previous world record by 0.3 percent. According to a report by ABC News, University of New South Wales (UNSW) Professor Martin Green, who led the record-breaking effort, said that solar cells only convert a fraction of the energy from sunlight into electricity.

February 21st, 2009 WASHINGTON - Physicists have discovered unusual electronic properties in a material that has potential to improve solar cell efficiency and computer chip design. They determined that a crystal made of bismuth, iron and oxygen can perform an electronic feat typically not feasible with conventional semiconductors.

April 9th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Engineers at Oregon State University (OSU) in the US are using an ancient life form called diatom to create one of the newest technologies for solar energy, in systems that may be simple enough to build compared to existing silicon-based solar cells. These tiny, single-celled marine life forms have existed for at least 100 million years and are the basis for much of the life in the oceans, but they also have rigid shells that can be used to create order in a natural way at the extraordinarily small level of nanotechnology.

May 30th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Scientists have said that laser technology can contribute to optimizing the manufacturing costs and efficiency of solar cells. If the latest forecast from the World Energy Council WEC can be believed, global electricity requirements will double in the next 40 years.

August 25th, 2009 WASHINGTON - If scientists have their way, solar cells could soon be produced more cheaply using nanoparticle "inks" that allow them to be printed like newspaper or painted onto the sides of buildings or rooftops to absorb electricity-producing sunlight. For the past two years, Brian Korgel, a University of Texas at Austin chemical engineer and his team have been working on this low-cost, nanomaterials solution to photovoltaics - or solar cell - manufacturing.

May 14th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Scientists at the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) say that they have devised a novel way to make a hybrid graphene-carbon nanotube (G-CNT), which can be used as a transparent conductor in solar cells and consumer electronic devices. Lead researchers Yang Yang and Richard Kaner reckon that G-CNTs may provide a cheaper and much more flexible alternative to materials currently used in these and similar applications.

July 8th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A team of scientists has developed a low-cost solution processing method for CIGS (copper-indium-gallium-selenide) based solar cells that could provide an answer to the problem of their production on a commercial scale. CIGS panels have a high efficiency potential, may be cheaper to produce and would use less raw materials than silicon solar panels.

September 1st, 2009 BANGALORE - State-run Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) and Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) will form a Rs.20 billion (Rs.2000 crore) joint venture by March 2010 to manufacture 250mw solar photovoltaic (PV) production facility for processing silicon wafers, solar cells and PV modules, a top company official said Tuesday. "The joint venture with 50:50 equity holding will be set up where abundant power will be available.

July 15th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Scientists are hopeful that future Air Force unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) will be powered by dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), which appear to be an optimum energy harvesting source, and thus may lead to longer flight times without refuelling. Led by Dr. Minoru Taya, the University of Washington's Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) project team is working on airborne solar cells by using a flexible film and a thin glass coating with transparent conductive electrodes.

June 26th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A physicist has presented a way of increasing the efficiency of concentrator solar cells, in which light is concentrated 400-fold through lenses onto solar cells. The concentrator technology enables expensive semi-conductor material to be replaced with cheaper lens systems, and greater efficiency to be achieved.

June 14th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A group of engineering researchers at McMaster University in Canada has installed a new flexible solar cell technology to power lighting for night-time transit users. The bus shelter is located on the west side of University Avenue between the John Hodgins Engineering Building and the Life Sciences Building.