News tagged with silicon solar

New tool for analyzing solar-cell materials

To make a silicon solar cell, you start with a slice of highly purified silicon crystal, and then process it through several stages involving gradual heating and cooling. But figuring out the tradeoffs involved ...

Technology / Energy & Green Tech

created Feb 07, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

The chemistry of exploding stars

(PhysOrg.com) -- Fundamental chemical processes in predecessors of our solar system are now a bit better understood: An international team led by Peter Hoppe, researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry ...

Space & Earth / Astronomy

created Jan 20, 2012 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (10) | comments 4 | with audio podcast

Facebook, Greenpeace in truce over data centers

(AP) -- Facebook and Greenpeace have called a truce over a clean energy feud that had the environmental group using the social network's own platform to campaign against it.

Technology / Energy & Green Tech

created Dec 15, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

First electronic optical fibers with hydrogenated amorphous silicon are developed

(PhysOrg.com) -- A new chemical technique for depositing a non-crystalline form of silicon into the long, ultra-thin pores of optical fibers has been developed by an international team of scientists in the ...

Physics / Optics & Photonics

created Dec 13, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Interdigitated back-contact silicon solar cells above 23% efficiency

Imec together with its silicon photovoltaic industrial affiliation program partners Schott Solar, Total, Photovoltech, GDF-SUEZ, Solland Solar, Kaneka and Dow Corning, have demonstrated an excellent conversion ...

Technology / Semiconductors

created Dec 02, 2011 | popularity 4 / 5 (3) | comments 1

Making a light-harvesting antenna from scratch

(PhysOrg.com) -- Sometimes when people talk about solar energy, they tacitly assume that we're stuck with some version of the silicon solar cell and its technical and cost limitations. Not so.

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Nov 29, 2011 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (15) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Nanowires could be solution for high performance solar cells

Tiny wires could help engineers realize high-performance solar cells and other electronics, according to University of Illinois researchers.

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Nov 09, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

USC team develops promising polymer for solar cells

(PhysOrg.com) -- Currently, most solar cells are based on silicon which for the most part, necessitates a rigid structure. This isn’t always ideal as some applications would benefit by material that is ...

Chemistry / Polymers

created Nov 07, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 1 | with audio podcast report

Breakthrough furnace can cut solar costs

(PhysOrg.com) -- Solar cells, the heart of the photovoltaic industry, must be tested for mechanical strength, oxidized, annealed, purified, diffused, etched, and layered.

Technology / Energy & Green Tech

created Oct 25, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (8) | comments 11 | with audio podcast

Self-organization gives rise to more efficient organic solar cells

Organic solar cells have the potential to convert sunlight into electrical energy in an economical and environmentally friendly fashion. The challenge is that they still work less efficiently than inorganic semiconductors. ...

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Oct 24, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Singapore researchers develop cheaper yet efficient thin film solar cells

Researchers in Singapore have exploited advanced nanostructure technology to make a highly efficient and yet cheaper silicon solar cell. With this development, the researchers hope that the cost of solar energy can be halved.

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Oct 12, 2011 | popularity 4.4 / 5 (12) | comments 9 | with audio podcast

Nanomaterials: Pillars of the assembly

The ever-increasing demand for enhanced performance in electronic devices such as solar cells, sensors and batteries is matched by a need to find ways to make smaller electrical components. Several techniques ...

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Sep 29, 2011 | popularity 4 / 5 (2) | comments 1

Silicon ink is spot on, NREL experiments show

Ink can cause a mess, but the Silicon Ink developed by Innovalight behaves itself so well that when it is added to a solar cell it doesn't clump or spill, instead it boosts the cell's power by a startling, ...

Technology / Engineering

created Sep 29, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Cheap and efficient solar cell made possible by linked nanoparticles

Researchers of the Chemical Engineering department and the Kavli institute of Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands have demonstrated that electrons can move freely in layers of linked semiconductor nanoparticles ...

Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials

created Sep 26, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0

'Oscar Madison' approach to solar cells may outshine 'Felix Unger' design

Sometimes neatness may not be necessary. Researchers have demonstrated that a tangled coating of randomly positioned nanowires can increase solar cell efficiency by absorbing more light.

Nanotechnology / Nanophysics

created Sep 12, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0