solar cells tagged posts

Relatively inexpensive compound could perform safely and effectively in solar cells. A team of engineers, material scientists, and physicists demonstrated how a new material — a lead-free chalcogenide perovskite — that hadn’t previously been considered for use in solar cells could provide a safer and more effective option than others that are commonly considered.

A widespread transition to solar energy will depend heavily on reliable, safe, and affordable technology like batteries for energy storage and solar cells for energy conversion. At Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, researchers are focused heavily on both parts of that equation.

In research published today in Advanced Functional Materials, a team of e...

The researchers used an approach called colloidal lithography to create a silver nanopattern that conducts electricity while letting light through the holes. The new transparent electrode films could be useful for solar cells as well as flexible displays and touch screens. Credit: Jes Linnet, University of Southern Denmark

Silver-based electrode films could be used for flexible touch displays, televisions and solar cells. Researchers have demonstrated large-scale fabrication of a new type of transparent conductive electrode film based on nanopatterned silver. Smartphone touch screens and flat panel televisions use transparent electrodes to detect touch and to quickly switch the color of each pixel...

Fabian Zechmeister (left) and Maximilian Raab (right) demonstrate the fluorescence of a perylene bisimide solution. Credit: Image courtesy of Vienna University of Technology, TU Vienna

Perylene bisimides are a heavily investigated and sought after class of organic pigments, since they show interesting dye properties. While these compounds are red pigments in the solid state, when dissolved, they generate bright yellowish-green solutions under UV irradiation. Aside their optical appeal; organic molecules that appear colored in daylight often also show intriguing electronic properties. Thus, organic dyes are promising lightweight materials for application as e.g. organic semiconductors, but also in for instance LCD displays or solar cells.

The laboratory of Dr. Miriam M...

Scientists discovered how to control a material’s properties and stability to develop next-generation solar cells based on newly discovered hybrid perovskites (atomic structure shown above). Simulations revealed that hybrid perovskites could be viewed as super-alkali halides. The schematic illustrates a hybrid perovskite structure where the super halogens are the blue tetrahedrons, the metal atoms are green, and the alkali cation is in the middle (gray structure with pink and black atoms). Journal of Materials Chemistry A

Lead-free, more efficient solar cells and other optoelectronics devices will likely be based on a family of materials known as hybrid perovskites...