Chiral molecules—that is, those that have mirror images of themselves—have significant benefits for transistors and solar energy devices. Studying their properties in close detail, though, has been tricky due to the limited methods for doing so.
A new study highlights the successful development of the first flexible perovskite/silicon tandem solar cell with a record efficiency of 22.8%, representing a major advance in flexible solar cell technology.
Although rigid perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells have seen impressive advancements, achieving efficiencies as high as 33.9%, the development of flexible versions of these cells has been limited. The main hurdle is improving light absorption in the ultrathin silicon bottom cells without compromising their mechanical flexibility.
In their pioneering study, a research team led by Dr. Xinlong Wang, Dr. Jingming Zheng, Dr. Zhiqin Ying, Prof. Xi Yang, and Prof. Jichun Ye from the Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, has successfully demonstrated the first flexible perovskite/silicon tandem solar cell based on ultrathin silicon, with a thickness of approximately 30 µm. By reducing wafer thicknesses and adjusting the feature sizes of light-trapping textures, they significantly improved the flexibility of the silicon substrate without compromising light utilization. Additionally, by capping the perovskite top cells, they enhanced the mechanical durability of the device, thus addressing concerns related to fractures in the silicon surface.
A clean energy startup develops a record-breaking residential solar module that records an efficiency figure of 26.9 percent.
A joint research team has unveiled a new topological insulator (TI), a unique state of matter that differs from conventional metals, insulators, and semiconductors. Unlike most known TIs, which are either three-or two-dimensional, this TI is one-dimensional. The breakthrough will lead to further developments of qubits and highly efficient solar cells.
Details of the research were published in the journal Nature (“Observation of edge states derived from topological helix chains”).
TIs boast an interior that behaves as an electrical insulator, meaning electrons cannot easily move; Whereas its surface acts as an electrical conductor, with the electrons able to move along the surface.
Enel Green Power Australia has announced that it has secured project financing for a $190 million solar and battery hybrid project it plans to build in western NSW.
The Quorn Park hybrid project will combine a 98 MW (dc) solar farm with a 20 MW, 40 MWh battery that will be built around 10kms north west of Parkes. Construction will commence within the next few months and it will be operational in 2026.
The new hybrid is one of the first to be announced since new rules were introduced that allow wind or solar farms to be truly “paired” with a battery storage facility, rather than operating and dispatching as separate units. This may impose some restrictions on operations, but can save on connection and other costs.
Stanford scientists are enhancing liquid fuel storage methods by developing new catalytic systems for isopropanol production to optimize energy retention and release.
As California transitions rapidly to renewable fuels, it needs new technologies that can store power for the electric grid. Solar power drops at night and declines in winter. Wind power ebbs and flows. As a result, the state depends heavily on natural gas to smooth out the highs and lows of renewable power.
“The electric grid uses energy at the same rate that you generate it, and if you’re not using it at that time, and you can’t store it, you must throw it away,” said Robert Waymouth, the Robert Eckles Swain Professor in Chemistry in the School of Humanities and Sciences.
A synthetic skin for prosthetics limbs that can generate its own energy from solar power has been developed by engineers from Glasgow University.
Researchers had already created an ‘electronic skin’ for prosthetic hands made with new super-material graphene.
The new skin was much more sensitive to touch but needed a power source to operate its sensors.
Collectively, the US’s 5 million solar installations can generate more than 179 gigawatts (GW) of electricity. Based on current trends, the SEIA claims that the US’s total solar capacity will soar to 673 GW by 2034, providing enough electricity to power 100 million homes.
The US will likely need to do better than that to meet the Biden Administration’s goal of 100% clean electricity by 2035, though. To decarbonize the grid by then, the Department of Energy (DoE) expects we’ll need as much as 1 terawatt (1,000 GWs) of solar capacity, enough for solar to meet 30–50% of the US’s electricity demand by itself.
National University of Singapore (NUS) chemists have developed hexavalent photocatalytic covalent organic frameworks (COFs) which mimic natural photosynthesis for the production of hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O2), an important industrial chemical.
The conventional method of H 2 O2 production involves using anthraquinone as a catalyst to convert air and hydrogen into H 2 O2. However, this process requires substantial energy, costly noble metal catalysts, high-pressure hydrogen gas and hazardous solvents. Artificial photosynthesis of H 2 O2, resembling the natural photosynthesis process with the use of sunlight as an energy source and abundant water and air as feedstocks, presents a sustainable and promising alternative to the conventional anthraquinone process.
However, such an artificial system faces three key challenges: insufficient charge carrier generation and fast charge recombination, which lowers the efficiency; limited number of available catalytic sites, which results in low productivity; and lack of efficient delivery of charges and reactants to the catalytic sites, which causes sluggish reaction kinetics.
