photovoltaic cells tagged posts

Los Alamos Center for Advanced Solar Photophysics researchers hold a large prototype solar window. From left to right: Jaehoon Lim, Kaifeng Wu, Victor Klimov, Hongbo Li. Credit: Los Alamos National Laboratory

Los Alamos National Lab team demonstrates an important step in taking quantum dot, solar-powered windows from the laboratory to the construction site by proving that the technology can be scaled up from palm-sized demonstration models to windows large enough to put in and power a building. “We are developing solar concentrators that will harvest sunlight from building windows and turn it into electricity, using quantum-dot based luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs),” said lead scientist Victor Klimov.

LSCs are light-management devices that can serve as large-area sunlight collectors...

Biomimetics: the epidermis of a rose petal is replicated in a transparent layer which is then integrated into the front of a solar cell. Credit: Illustration: Guillaume Gomard, KIT

Scientists increase the efficiency of solar cells by replicating the structure of petals. With a surface resembling that of plants, solar cells improve light-harvesting and thus generate more power. Scientists of KIT reproduced the epidermal cells of rose petals that have particularly good antireflection properties and integrated the transparent replicas into an organic solar cell. This resulted in a relative efficiency gain of 12%.

Photovoltaics works in a similar way as the photosynthesis of plants...