Solar cell
hideA solar cell or photovoltaic cell is a device that converts light directly into electricity by the photovoltaic effect. Sometimes the term solar cell is reserved for devices intended specifically to capture energy from sunlight, while the term photovoltaic cell is used when the light source is unspecified. Assemblies of cells are used to make solar panels, solar modules, or photovoltaic arrays. Photovoltaics is the field of technology and research related to the application of solar cells in producing electricity for practical use. The energy generated this way is an example of solar energy (also called solar power).
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News tagged with solar cells
Staying Power: Senate Hearing Focuses On Energy Storage
Dec 10, 2009 |
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Thursday's Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing featured testimony from experts about the power industry's need to develop systems capable of storing large amounts of electricity if the nation's ...
Elusive 'hot' electrons captured in ultra-thin solar cells
Dec 11, 2009 |
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Boston College researchers have observed the "hot electron" effect in a solar cell for the first time and successfully harvested the elusive charges using ultra-thin solar cells, opening a potential avenue to improved solar ...
Innovation puts next-generation solar cells on the horizon
Dec 01, 2009 |
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In a world first, a Monash University-led international research team has developed an innovative way to boost the output of the next generation of solar cells.
Highlight: Solar - Bridging the gap
Dec 10, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Titanium dioxide, the same inexpensive white pigment that protects us from sunburns, can be converted into a material that absorbs sunlight and could greatly increase the efficiency of solar energy cells.
Porphyrin Dimers Increase Efficiency of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells
Oct 30, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Porphyrins are most commonly thought of as the pigment in red blood cells, but now scientists have found that porphyrins can also be used to increase the efficiency of an inexpensive type ...
Solar Cells with LEDs Provide Inexpensive Lighting
Nov 09, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Of the 1.5 billion people in developing countries who do not have electricity, many rely on kerosene lamps for light after the sun goes down. But now, researchers from Denmark have designed ...
A Polymer Solar Cell with Near-Perfect Internal Efficiency
Jun 17, 2009 |
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An international group of scientists has developed a polymer-based solar cell with an ability not yet seen in similar cells: almost every single photon it absorbs is converted into a pair of electric-charge carriers, and ...
Argonne 'homegrown' hybrid solar cell aims for low-cost power
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Nov 10, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory have refined a technique to manufacture solar cells by creating tubes of semiconducting material and then "growing" ...
Water droplets direct self-assembly process in thin-film materials
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Nov 23, 2009 |
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You can think of it as origami - very high-tech origami. Researchers at the University of Illinois have developed a technique for fabricating three-dimensional, single-crystalline silicon structures from thin films by coupling ...
China solar panel makers see boost from Copenhagen
Dec 03, 2009 |
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In Trina Solar's brilliant white factory in eastern China, masked workers in lab coats turn silicon wafers into solar power cells capable of harnessing the sun's clean and limitless energy.
Infrared Nanotube Films Offer Advantages for Solar Cells and More
Mar 11, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers have already known that carbon nanotube thin films have mechanical and conductive advantages that could make them useful as electrodes in solar cells, solid state lighting, and ...
Using nanoparticles to increase the effiiciency of thin film solar cells
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Jun 12, 2009 |
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Germany is one of the leading countries when it comes to efforts related to renewable energy sources. Therefore, it is no surprise that the Institute of Condensed Matter and Solid State Optics at Friedrich-Schiller-Universität ...
Will carbon nanotubes replace indium tin oxide?
Nanotechnology / Nanomaterials
Mar 09, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Up until now, George Grüner tells PhysOrg.com, most of the studies regarding the properties - and uses - of carbon nanotubes have been restricted to the visible spectral range. “We, however, were interested in the ...
Toyota to release solar charger for electric vehicles
Oct 27, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Toyota is developing a solar charging station for electric cars and plug-in hybrids, making a green technology even greener. It has also designed a battery charger for mounting inside an electric ...
NRL's MISSE7 launched aboard STS-129
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
Dec 07, 2009 |
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The Materials on the International Space Station Experiment (MISSE) 7, designed and built by the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), launched aboard STS-129 on November, 16, for transport to the International ...
