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Category: solar power – Page 4

Lightweight plastic mirrors drop cost of solar thermal energy by 40%

Researchers in Australia are working on a way to lower the cost of producing solar thermal energy by as much as 40% with the help of shatterproof rear-view mirrors originally designed for cars.

That could be huge for agriculture and industrial facilities which need large amounts of heat for large-scale processes at temperatures between 212 — 754 °F (100 — 400 °C). That addresses food production, drying crops, grain and pulse drying, sterilizing soil and treating wastewater on farms; industrial applications include producing chemicals, making paper, desalinating water, and dyeing textiles.

A quick refresher in case you’re out of the loop: solar thermal energy and conventional solar energy (photovoltaic) systems both harvest sunlight, but they work in fundamentally different ways. Solar thermal setups capture the Sun’s heat rather than its light, use reflectors to concentrate sunlight onto a receiver, and convert solar radiation directly into heat energy. This heat can be used directly for heating buildings, water, or the aforementioned industrial processes.

Australian researchers use a quantum computer to simulate how real molecules behave

When a molecule absorbs light, it undergoes a whirlwind of quantum-mechanical transformations. Electrons jump between energy levels, atoms vibrate, and chemical bonds shift—all within millionths of a billionth of a second.

These processes underpin everything from photosynthesis in plants and DNA damage from sunlight, to the operation of solar cells and light-powered cancer therapies.

Yet despite their importance, chemical processes driven by light are difficult to simulate accurately. Traditional computers struggle, because it takes vast computational power to simulate this quantum behavior.

“Light Out, Power Up”: Carbon Nanotubes Discovered Emitting More Energetic Light Than They Absorb in Groundbreaking Quantum Breakthrough

IN A NUTSHELL 🌟 Scientists at Japan’s RIKEN Center for Advanced Photonics have discovered that carbon nanotubes can emit more energetic light than they absorb. 🔍 The phenomenon, known as up-conversion photoluminescence (UCPL), occurs even in pristine nanotubes, defying previous theories requiring structural defects. ☀️ This discovery holds potential for enhancing solar energy efficiency by.

Finely-tuned TiO₂ nanorod arrays enhance solar cell efficiency

A research team led by Prof. Wang Mingtai at the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has developed a finely tuned method for growing titanium dioxide nanorod arrays (TiO2-NA) with controllable spacing without changing individual rod size and demonstrated its application in high-performance solar cells.

Their findings, published in Small Methods, offer a new toolkit for crafting nanostructures across clean energy and optoelectronics.

Single-crystalline TiO2 nanorods excel at harvesting light and conducting charge, making them ideal for solar cells, photocatalysts, and sensors. However, traditional fabrication methods link rod density, diameter, and length—if one parameter is adjusted, the others shift accordingly, often affecting device efficiency.

Light is the science of the future: The Africans using it to solve local challenges

Light is all around us, essential for one of our primary senses (sight) as well as life on Earth itself. It underpins many technologies that affect our daily lives, including energy harvesting with solar cells, light-emitting-diode (LED) displays and telecommunications through fiber optic networks.

The smartphone is a great example of the power of light. Inside the box, its electronic functionality works because of quantum mechanics. The front screen is an entirely photonic device: liquid crystals controlling light. The back too: white light-emitting diodes for a flash, and lenses to capture images.

We use the word photonics, and sometimes optics, to capture the harnessing of light for and technologies. Their importance in is celebrated every year on 16 May with the International Day of Light.

Switchable singlet fission: pH triggers molecules to split or emit light for sensors

An international team of researchers has successfully controlled the flow of energy in a molecule with the help of its pH value. The results of the study, led by Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), could contribute to the development of new sensors for medical diagnostics, for example.

The findings are also of interest for building more efficient solar cells and for use in . The results have been published in the journal Nature Communications.

A process called singlet fission is at the center of the study. In future generations of solar cells, it should improve the utilization of light and thus increase efficiency. Until now, a large proportion of the energy that shines onto solar cells is lost and released as heat.

Novel zinc-ion battery design promotes safe, scalable industrial energy storage

The present century has witnessed a proactive shift toward more sustainable forms of energy, including renewable resources such as solar power, wind, nuclear energy, and geothermal energy. These technologies naturally require robust energy storage systems for future usage. In recent years, lithium-ion batteries have emerged as dominant energy storage systems. However, they are known to suffer from critical safety issues.

In this regard, zinc-ion batteries based on water-based electrolytes offer a promising solution. They are inherently safe, environmentally friendly, as well as economically viable. These batteries also mitigate fire risks and thermal runaway issues associated with their lithium-based counterparts, which makes them lucrative for grid-scale energy storage.

Furthermore, zinc has high capacity, low cost, ample abundance, and low toxicity. Unfortunately, current collectors utilized in zinc-ion batteries, such as graphite foil, are difficult to scale up and suffer from relatively poor mechanical properties, limiting their industrial use.

Improving the performance of Cu₂SrSnS₄ solar cells with inorganic hole transport layers

Thin film solar cells such as CdTe and CIGSe have gained significant attention due to their low production cost and excellent power conversion efficiencies (PCE). Nevertheless, toxicity and scarcity of constituent elements restrict their widespread usage.

Recently, Cu2SrSnS4 semiconductor has emerged as a potential substitute due to its remarkable absorber characteristics, including non-toxicity, Earth abundance, tunable bandgap, etc. But still, it’s in the emerging stage with a low PCE of 0.6%, revealing that it requires remarkable enhancement to compete with traditional solar cells.

The large open circuit voltage (VOC) loss constricts its performance, which primarily originates from improper band alignment with the transport layers. Discovering the ideal device configuration is the best solution to enhance its PCE.

“56,000 Homes Become a Power Plant”: California Firm Creates Largest Virtual Energy Source in US With Revolutionary Grid-Sharing Tech

IN A NUTSHELL 🌞 Sunrun has created the largest virtual power plant in the U.S. by linking 75,000 home batteries. 🌿 The CalReady system provides 375 megawatts of backup power, energizing 280,000 homes, equivalent to all of Ventura County. 💡 This innovative approach helps reduce energy costs and carbon emissions by using 100% solar energy.