Solar Energy News

November 20, 2024

Top Headlines

Perovskite Research Boosts Solar Cell Efficiency and Product Life

Nov. 19, 2024 — An international team has identified a strategy to improve both the performance and stability for solar cells made out of the 'miracle material' perovskite by mitigating a previously hidden degradation ...

New Solar Composition Ratios That Could Reconcile Longstanding Questions

Nov. 12, 2024 — A team combined compositional data of primitive bodies like Kuiper Belt objects, asteroids and comets with new solar data sets to develop a revised solar composition that potentially reconciles spectroscopy and helioseismology measurements for the ...

Power Grids Supplied Largely by Renewable Sources Experience Lower Intensity Blackouts

Nov. 6, 2024 — New research into the vulnerability of power grids served by weather-dependent renewable energy sources (WD-RESs) such as solar and wind paints a hopeful picture as various countries around the globe ...

Investigating Performance Limitations in Cost-Effective Materials for Perovskite Solar Cells

Nov. 6, 2024 — Researchers investigated the internal properties of low-cost materials used in perovskite solar cells, which are attracting attention for their high efficiency, using electron spin resonance (ESR) to ...

Latest Headlines

updated 11:08pm EST

Solving Interface Mystery in Organic Solar Cells Makes Them More Efficient

Oct. 30, 2024 — Research provides a deeper understanding of precisely what is happening in organic solar cells as light is converted into electricity. Researchers developed a new method which visualizes interfaces ...

A Trick of Light: Researchers Turn Silicon Into Direct Bandgap Semiconductor

Oct. 31, 2024 — Researchers have come up with a way to turn silicon into a direct bandgap semiconductor, opening the door to the manufacture of ultrathin silicon ...

Paving the Way for Harvesting and Storing Solar Energy Efficiently

Oct. 29, 2024 — Approximately 50 percent of global final energy consumption is dedicated to heating. Yet, the utilization of solar power in this sector remains relatively low compared to fossil energy sources. An ...

The Evolution of Green Energy Technology: Developing Three-Dimensional Smart Energy Devices With Radiant Cooling and Solar Absorption

Oct. 25, 2024 — - DGIST, KAIST, and Korea University collaborated to develop a three-dimensional device with reversible heating/cooling based on the thermal ...

Next-Generation Solar Cells Become More Powerful With Silver (Ag) Doping Technology

Oct. 25, 2024 — Researchers have significantly improved the performance of kesterite (CZTSSe) thin-film solar cells. They developed a new method for doping silver ...

New AI Model Could Make Power Grids More Reliable Amid Rising Renewable Energy Use

Oct. 24, 2024 — Researchers use AI to manage the growing complexity of modern power ...

Researchers Unlock the 'Silicate Magic' for Safer, Cheaper, and More Efficient Batteries

Oct. 17, 2024 — A research team is exploring new battery technologies for grid energy storage. The team's recent results suggest that iron, when treated with the ...

Let There Be Light: Bright Future for Solar Panels, TV Screens and More

Oct. 14, 2024 — From brighter TV screens to better medical diagnostics and more efficient solar panels, new research has discovered how to make more molecules stick to the surface of tiny nanocrystals, in a ...

Engineering Perovskite Materials at the Atomic Level Paves Way for New Lasers, LEDs

Oct. 11, 2024 — Researchers have developed and demonstrated a technique that allows them to engineer a class of materials called layered hybrid perovskites (LHPs) ...

Solar-Powered Desalination System Requires No Extra Batteries

Oct. 8, 2024 — Engineers built a solar-powered desalination system that produces large quantities of clean water despite variations in sunlight throughout the day. Because it requires no extra batteries, it offers ...

AI Speeds Up the Discovery of Energy and Quantum Materials

Oct. 7, 2024 — Unearthing new LEDs, solar cells, and photodetectors requires extensive knowledge surrounding the optical properties of materials. Calculating these takes time and resources. Yet researchers unveiled ...

Researchers Restore the Performance of Quantum Dot Solar Cells as If 'Flattening Crumpled Paper'

Oct. 7, 2024 — Researchers adopt a new ligand to enhance the efficiency and stability of perovskite quantum dot solar cells. Solar cell efficiency increases to 15.3% by correcting distortions on the surface of ...

Cool Roofs Could Have Saved Lives During London's Hottest Summer, Say Researchers

Oct. 1, 2024 — As many as 249 lives could have been saved in London during the 2018 record-setting hot summer had the city widely adopted cool roofs, estimates a new ...

Molecular Level Changes Translate to Big Efficiency Gains for Organic Solar Cells

Sep. 10, 2024 — Researchers have designed and synthesized a new organic semiconductor for organic solar cells (OSCs). By adding specific side units to their structure, they achieved separation between the frontier ...

New Defect Passivation Strategy for Perovskite Solar Cells

Sep. 10, 2024 — Researchers report on a new defect passivation strategy for improved power conversion efficiency and stability of perovskite solar ...

Shining Light on How Solar Power and Farming Can Coexist

Sep. 6, 2024 — Scientists have developed a new tool to help identify optimal photovoltaic (PV) materials capable of maximizing crop growth while generating solar ...

Insights from Satellite Data Pave the Way to Better Solar Power Generation

Aug. 27, 2024 — Fluctuations in solar radiation are a problem for solar power plants as they cause problems in the power grid and other reliability issues. In a recent study, scientists aimed to deepen our ...

New Nano-Device Could Mean Your Run Could Power Your Electrical Wearables

Aug. 22, 2024 — Your early morning run could soon help harvest enough electricity to power your wearable devices, thanks to new ...

Sharing Risk to Avoid Power Outages in an Era of Extreme Weather

Aug. 20, 2024 — Heat waves, droughts, and fires place growing stress on the West's electric grid. New research suggests that more integrated management of electricity resources across the region could ...

Engineering Researchers Enhance Perovskite Solar Cells Durability With First-of-Its-Kind Chiral-Structured 'Springy' Interface

Aug. 9, 2024 — A research team has constructed an unprecedented chiral-structured interface in perovskite solar cells, which enhances the reliability and power conversion efficiency of this fast-advancing solar ...

Stacking Molecules Like Plates Improves Organic Solar Device Performance

Aug. 6, 2024 — Researchers found that how well light-converting molecules stack together in a solid is important for how well they convert light into electric current. A rigid molecule that stacked well showed ...

Engineering Researchers Crack the Code to Boost Solar Cell Efficiency and Durability

Aug. 1, 2024 — Photovoltaic (PV) technologies, which convert light into electricity, are increasingly applied worldwide to generate renewable energy. Researchers have now developed a molecular treatment that ...

More Electricity from the Sun

July 31, 2024 — A coating of solar cells with special organic molecules could pave the way for a new generation of solar panels. This coating can increase the efficiency of monolithic tandem cells made of silicon ...

Fresh Light on the Path to Net Zero

July 26, 2024 — Researchers have used magnetic fields to reveal the mystery of how light particles split. Scientists are closer to giving the next generation of solar cells a powerful boost by integrating a process ...

Indoor Solar Cells That Maximize the Use of Light Energy

July 25, 2024 — Chemists have synthesized materials that can improve solar elements for indoor use. Such photovoltaic cells, which can also be integrated into various electronic devices, generate electricity even in ...

Manufacturing Perovskite Solar Panels With a Long-Term Vision

July 23, 2024 — Researchers working at the forefront of an emerging photovoltaic (PV) technology are thinking ahead about how to scale, deploy, and design future solar panels to be easily recyclable. Solar panels ...

3D-Printed Microstructure Forest Facilitates Solar Steam Generator Desalination

July 23, 2024 — Faced with the world's impending freshwater scarcity, researchers turned to solar steam generators, which are emerging as a promising device for seawater desalination. The team sought design ...

'Secret' Hidden Structure Paves New Way of Making More Efficient and Stable Perovskite Solar Cells

July 19, 2024 — Researchers has revealed the existence of surface concavities on individual crystal grains -- which are the fundamental blocks -- of perovskite thin films, and have unraveled their significant ...

Solar Farms With Stormwater Controls Mitigate Runoff, Erosion, Study Finds

July 18, 2024 — As the number of major utility-scale ground solar panel installations grows, concerns about their impacts on natural hydrologic processes also have grown. However, a new study by Penn State ...

Researchers Show Promising Material for Solar Energy Gets Its Curious Boost from Entropy

July 10, 2024 — Researchers discovered a microscopic mechanism that solves in part the outstanding performance achieved by a new class of organic semiconductors known as non-fullerene acceptors ...