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Archive for the ‘solar power’ category

Mar 15, 2024

‘Solar sandwich’ of old, new solar cells could unlock next-level power

Posted by in categories: solar power, sustainability

A new type of solar cell made using selenium and silicon could offer a cost advantage while also delivering energy conversion efficiency.

Mar 14, 2024

Game-changing solar tech gets even more flexible

Posted by in categories: solar power, sustainability

With their lightweight, flexible design, printed solar cells can be deployed in previously unimaginable ways.

Mar 10, 2024

Synchrotron nuclear facility saves big with massive solar push

Posted by in categories: nuclear energy, particle physics, solar power, sustainability

The Australian Synchrotron, a crown jewel of Australian scientific infrastructure, is making major strides towards sustainable energy independence. The nuclear research facility recently completed the installation of 3,200 solar panels which now blankets the facility’s rooftops. This move is expected to generate substantial savings and support Synchrotron’s world-class research.

The state-of-the-art particle accelerator has now gone green with a 1.59 MW/ 1,668 kWh rooftop solar system. The facility will save about $2 million in energy costs over the next five years.

Mar 10, 2024

Researchers make breakthrough in solar technology with ‘stretchable’ panels that act like rubber — here’s why it’s significant

Posted by in categories: solar power, sustainability, wearables

An innovative, flexible solar cell being developed in South Korea has passed a crucial stress test.

Researchers from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology (KAIST) are working on a rubber-like sun-catcher made from organic materials. The idea is for these elastic cells to one day help power the wearable technology that is becoming more prevalent in society, per a KAIST research report.

“Through this research, we not only developed the world’s best performing stretchable organic solar cell, but it is also significant that we developed a new polymer that can be applicable as a base material for various electronic devices that needs to be malleable and/or elastic,” study lead Professor Bumjoon Kim said in the summary.

Mar 9, 2024

Doing the impossible: harvesting solar power from space

Posted by in categories: solar power, space, sustainability

Isaac Asimov’s idea of harvesting solar power from space may not be a thing of fiction much longer as space agencies explore the concept.

Mar 9, 2024

Engineer plans solar panel implant for human retina to retain eyesight

Posted by in categories: neuroscience, solar power, sustainability

Very small solar panels placed on the eye can send electric signals directly to the brain and restore vision.

Mar 9, 2024

World’s largest floating offshore solar power plant construction begins

Posted by in categories: solar power, sustainability

Offshore floating solar projects can help overcome limitations of land while tapping into maximum sunlight in sun rich regions.

Mar 9, 2024

Massive solar farms could provoke rainclouds in the desert

Posted by in categories: geoengineering, solar power, sustainability

Updrafts from dark solar panels could fuel storms—an alternative to cloud seeding.

Mar 9, 2024

Novel Material Increases Efficiency and Stability of Perovskite Solar cells

Posted by in categories: chemistry, solar power, sustainability

In an article published in the Journal of Materials Chemistry C, Brazilian researchers describe a strategy to enhance the efficiency and stability of solar cells made of perovskite, a semiconductor material produced in the laboratory. The results of the project could be highly positive for the future of the solar power sector.

Developed by researchers at São Paulo State University (UNESP) in Bauru, Brazil, the method involves the use of a class of materials known as MXenes, a family of two-dimensional materials with a graphene-like structure combining transition metals, carbon and/or nitrogen, and surface functional groups such as fluoride, oxygen or hydroxyl. Their properties include high electrical conductivity, good thermal stability, and high transmittance (relating to the amount of light that passes through a substance without being reflected or absorbed).

In the study, the MXene Ti3C2Tx was added to polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) to form a passivation coating, which was spin-coated on top of the perovskite layer of inverted solar cells. Passivation coatings are designed to mitigate possible defects in polycrystalline solids (perovskite in this case) due to interaction with the environment or to their internal structure.

Mar 9, 2024

Scientists shine new light on the future of nanoelectronic devices

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, nanotechnology, robotics/AI, solar power

Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to transform technologies as diverse as solar panels, in-body medical sensors and self-driving vehicles. But these applications are already pushing today’s computers to their limits when it comes to speed, memory size and energy use.

Fortunately, scientists in the fields of AI, computing and nanoscience are working to overcome these challenges, and they are using their brains as their models.

That is because the circuits, or neurons, in the have a key advantage over today’s computer circuits: they can store information and process it in the same place. This makes them exceptionally fast and energy efficient. That is why scientists are now exploring how to use materials measured in billionths of a meter— nanomaterials—to construct circuits that work like our neurons. To do so successfully, however, scientists must understand precisely what is happening within these nanomaterial circuits at the atomic level.

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