Multilayered perovskite-based films, designed by KAUST researchers, shield high-performance perovskite solar cells from extreme heat and moisture while also boosting their long-term stability, which is a key milestone for device commercialization.
Tandem cells made of silicon and perovskite are able to convert the broad energy spectrum of sunlight into electrical energy more efficiently than the respective single cells. Now, for the first time, two teams from HZB and ISFH Hameln have succeeded in combining a perovskite top cell with a so-called PERC/POLO silicon cell to form a tandem device.
Solar photovoltaics (PV) is a major stepping-stone in our transition towards a sustainable energy economy. The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) roadmap suggests that by 2050, electricity generation from PV should reach 43 percent of the total installed power capacity.
Although solar cells are typically designed to turn light into power, researchers have shown that they can also be used to achieve underwater wireless optical communication with high data rates. The new approach-;which used an array of series-connected solar cells as detectors-;could offer a cost-effective, low-energy way to transmit data underwater.
Displayed over roof tops and in solar farms, silicon-based solar cells are, so far, one of the most efficient systems in generating electricity from sunlight, but their fabrication can be expensive and energy demanding, aside from being heavy and bulky.
A solar cell converts light into electricity. So, the longer a solar cell remains out in the sun, the more power it can produce, right- Not necessarily. Solar cells capture massive amounts of heat during the day and their temperatures typically rise to tens of degrees greater than the ambient temperature of ~25 °C. The materials that solar cells are made of degrade at such high temperatures and overall, the performance of the solar cells fall.
All-polymer blend solar cells are expected to play an important role in the transition to clean energy technologies because they can be easily produced in large-scale flexible sheets. However, their performance has lagged behind that of more traditional silicon alternatives, as well as other organic solar cells.
A European consortium is developing a new process that uses sunlight and LEDs to turn carbon dioxide and green hydrogen into clean energy products like methane gas and methanol liquid fuel.
Catalysts are compounds that enable and accelerate desired chemical reactions without themselves degrading and are pivotal in virtually all of applied chemistry.
A group of chemists from Kaunas University of Technology (KTU), Lithuania synthesised materials that were used for constructing a record-breaking perovskite solar module, with an efficiency of 21.4 per cent. This was achieved through the passivation of the active solar cell layer, which increases the efficiency of the cell and significantly improves its stability.