Photovoltaics and Solar Cells News

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New Photovoltaic Cell Harvests Energy from the Environment During Day and Night

About 750 million people in the world do not have access to electricity at night. Solar cells provide power during the day, but saving energy for later use requires substantial battery storage.

6 Apr 2022

Ultra-Thin Solar Panels Convert Light into Electricity More Efficiently than Others

A team co-led team by the University of Surrey has successfully increased the levels of energy absorbed by wafer-thin photovoltaic panels by 25%. Their solar panels, just one micrometre thick (1µm), convert light into electricity more efficiently than others as thin and pave the way to make it easier to general more clean, green energy.

30 Mar 2022

Researchers Clear the Biggest Hurdle Toward Widespread Adoption of Solar Cell Technology

Materials scientists at the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering and colleagues from five other universities around the world have discovered the major reason why perovskite solar cells — which show great promise for improved energy-conversion efficiency — degrade in sunlight, causing their performance to suffer over time.

16 Mar 2022

New Type of Electrical Contact can Improve Stability of Solar Cells

In the future, decarbonized societies that use internet of things (IoT) devices will become commonplace. But to achieve this, we need to first realize highly efficient and stable sources of renewable energy.

14 Mar 2022

Perovskite-Based Multilayered Films Shield High-Performance Solar Cells from Extreme Heat, Moisture

Multilayered perovskite-based films, designed by KAUST researchers, shield high-performance perovskite solar cells from extreme heat and moisture while also boosting their long-term stability, which is a key milestone for device commercialization.

9 Mar 2022

Researchers Combine "Workhorse" of Photovoltaics with Perovskite Top Cell to Form a Tandem Device

Tandem cells made of silicon and perovskite are able to convert the broad energy spectrum of sunlight into electrical energy more efficiently than the respective single cells. Now, for the first time, two teams from HZB and ISFH Hameln have succeeded in combining a perovskite top cell with a so-called PERC/POLO silicon cell to form a tandem device.

25 Feb 2022

Study Shows Improved Efficiency from Spectrum Splitting in Tandem Solar Cells

Solar photovoltaics (PV) is a major stepping-stone in our transition towards a sustainable energy economy. The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) roadmap suggests that by 2050, electricity generation from PV should reach 43 percent of the total installed power capacity.

18 Feb 2022

Solar Cells can be Used to Achieve Underwater Wireless Optical Communication

Although solar cells are typically designed to turn light into power, researchers have shown that they can also be used to achieve underwater wireless optical communication with high data rates. The new approach-;which used an array of series-connected solar cells as detectors-;could offer a cost-effective, low-energy way to transmit data underwater.

17 Feb 2022

Study Reports a New Approach Towards the Fabrication of Inorganic Solar Cells

Displayed over roof tops and in solar farms, silicon-based solar cells are, so far, one of the most efficient systems in generating electricity from sunlight, but their fabrication can be expensive and energy demanding, aside from being heavy and bulky.

15 Feb 2022

Integrating Radiative Coolers can Enhance Power Conversion Efficiency of Solar Cells

A solar cell converts light into electricity. So, the longer a solar cell remains out in the sun, the more power it can produce, right- Not necessarily. Solar cells capture massive amounts of heat during the day and their temperatures typically rise to tens of degrees greater than the ambient temperature of ~25 °C. The materials that solar cells are made of degrade at such high temperatures and overall, the performance of the solar cells fall.

11 Feb 2022