Category Technology/Electronics

Experimental two-electrode setup showing the photoelectrochemical cell illuminated with simulated solar light.
Credit: Katarzyna Sokól

New research in the field of semi-artificial photosynthesis. They used natural sunlight to convert water into hydrogen and oxygen using a mixture of biological components and humanmade technologies. The research could now be used to revolutionise the systems used for renewable energy production.

A new paper, published in Nature Energy, outlines how academics at the Reisner Laboratory in Cambridge developed their platform to achieve unassisted solar-driven water-splitting. Their method also managed to absorb more solar light than natural photosynthesis...

An ipad that fits your pocket: introducing a roll-up tablet with flexible screen real estate. Credit: Queen’s University

A Queen’s University research team has taken a page from history, rolled it up and created the MagicScroll – a rollable touch-screen tablet designed to capture the seamless flexible screen real estate of ancient scrolls in a modern-day device. Led by bendable-screen pioneer Dr. Roel Vertegaal, this new technology is set to push the boundaries of flexible device technology into brand new territory.

The device is comprised of a high-resolution, 7.5″ 2K resolution flexible display that can be rolled or unrolled around a central, 3D-printed cylindrical body containing the device’s computerized inner-workings...

Rows of photovoltaic cells are shown atop a building on the Georgia Institute of Technology campus in Atlanta.
Credit: John Toon, Georgia Tech

A team of semiconductor researchers based in France has used a boron nitride separation layer to grow indium gallium nitride (InGaN) solar cells that were then lifted off their original sapphire substrate and placed onto a glass substrate.

By combining the InGaN cells with photovoltaic (PV) cells made from materials such as silicon or gallium arsenide, the new lift-off technique could facilitate fabrication of higher efficiency hybrid PV devices able to capture a broader spectrum of light. Such hybrid structures could theoretically boost solar cell efficiency as high as 30% for an InGaN/Si tandem device.

The technique is the third major application f...

A perovskite-CIGS solar cell developed by UCLA Samueli researchers converts 22.4 percent of incoming energy from the sun, a record for this type of cell.
Credit: UCLA Samueli Engineering

Materials scientists from the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering have developed a highly efficient thin-film solar cell that generates more energy from sunlight than typical solar panels, thanks to its double-layer design. The device is made by spraying a thin layer of perovskite – an inexpensive compound of lead and iodine that has been shown to be very efficient at capturing energy from sunlight – onto a commercially available solar cell. The solar cell that forms the bottom layer of the device is made of a compound of copper, indium, gallium and selenide, or CIGS.

The team’s new cell converts 22...