CleanTechnica » Black Silicon

Move Over, Orange: Copper Is The New Black (Silicon)

Tina Casey — Fri, 05 Sep 2014 12:15:22 +0000

Solar innovator Natcore and NREL team up to push the cost of black silicon solar cells down, down, down with new copper based catalytic process

Move Over, Orange: Copper Is The New Black (Silicon) was originally published on CleanTechnica.

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Solar Energy News Buffet

Zachary Shahan — Sat, 26 Jul 2014 10:00:23 +0000

As noted in an article yesterday, I’ve been very busy in the past month (well, months…) moving into a new home and following the birth of a sweet little cleantech lover. Inevitably, “roundup articles” of important or interesting cleantech news we didn’t cover dropped off as a result. With a big backlog of stories I wanted to

Solar Energy News Buffet was originally published on CleanTechnica.

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Black Silicon Wafers Processed Into Solar Cells In Actual Production Line

James Ayre — Sun, 11 May 2014 09:10:25 +0000

Natcore Technology’s black silicon wafers have now been processed into actual working solar cells in a production line, rather than a laboratory setting, for the first time. This has been done by one of the world’s largest photovoltaic manufacturers, which is located in China’s Hunan province. Five batches of the silicon wafers with a black

Black Silicon Wafers Processed Into Solar Cells In Actual Production Line was originally published on CleanTechnica.

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Natcore Aims To Make Black Silicon Solar Cells Even Cheaper

Tina Casey — Mon, 09 Dec 2013 13:09:54 +0000

The solar company Natcore Technologies is set to take a huge bite out of the cost of producing solar cells while reducing the amount of manufacturing-related hazardous effluents. The key is a new low temperature laser process that Natcore plans to introduce, which will eliminate the need for a high temperature diffusion furnace. Natcore has

Natcore Aims To Make Black Silicon Solar Cells Even Cheaper was originally published on CleanTechnica.

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Black Metals Beat A New Path To Solar Cell Efficiency

Tina Casey — Sat, 03 Aug 2013 12:44:18 +0000

It looks like black is the new black when it comes to solar cell efficiency. A team of researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) has come up with a way to increase solar cell efficiency, by creating “black metals” etched with nanoscale structures that harvest energy from wavelengths all along the solar spectrum. The

Black Metals Beat A New Path To Solar Cell Efficiency was originally published on CleanTechnica.

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Black Silicon Solar Cell Efficiency Record Broken

Nicholas Brown — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 16:57:48 +0000

Researchers at Fraunhofer ISE of Germany and Aalto University of Finland have developed a black silicon solar cell that achieved 18.7% efficiency. This is the highest efficiency reported for a black silicon solar cell technology. 18.7% efficiency means a power-to-size ratio of 187 watts per square meter of these cells. 7,000 watts (7 kW) of these

Black Silicon Solar Cell Efficiency Record Broken was originally published on CleanTechnica.

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Black Silicon Can Lead To More Efficient Solar Cells, New Breakthrough Shows

James Ayre — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 13:09:26 +0000

A significant breakthrough has been made in the light absorption and surface passivation abilities of silicon nano-structures (such as black silicon) by researchers at Aalto University in Finland. The improvements were made by the application of an atomic layer coating, which works to improve light absorption and to make it more resistant to impurities (improved surface

Black Silicon Can Lead To More Efficient Solar Cells, New Breakthrough Shows was originally published on CleanTechnica.

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Natcore-NREL Partnership Holds Promise of Low-Cost, High-Efficiency “Absolute Black” Solar Cells

Andrew — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 12:57:46 +0000

Finding ways to reduce the reflectivity of silicon PV cells to near zero and produce them cheaply enough in commercial quantities is a big challenge. Natcore, working in partnership with NREL, believes they're nearly there with their near-commercialization of black silicon solar cells.

Natcore-NREL Partnership Holds Promise of Low-Cost, High-Efficiency “Absolute Black” Solar Cells was originally published on CleanTechnica.

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Black Silicon Solar Cell Hits 18.2% Efficiency, Should Help to Reduce Costs

James Ayre — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 14:30:58 +0000

Black-silicon solar cells with 18.2% efficiency have been created by researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). These don’t need extra anti-reflection layers (like typical solar cells do), which should help to significantly lower the cost of solar energy. The specially designed nanostructured surface ensures that the light-generated electricity is

Black Silicon Solar Cell Hits 18.2% Efficiency, Should Help to Reduce Costs was originally published on CleanTechnica.

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Black Silicon Solar Cells Get Boost in Efficiency, Efficiency Doubled

Zachary Shahan — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 07:30:32 +0000

While conventional solar cells can absorb a good portion of the Sun’s light, they completely miss the boat on getting anything from the infrared spectrum. But black silicon solar cells are actually designed exactly for this. A group of researchers from the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft institute in Germany have recently succeeded in doubling solar cell efficiency of black silicon

Black Silicon Solar Cells Get Boost in Efficiency, Efficiency Doubled was originally published on CleanTechnica.

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Blackest Solar Cell to Date Absorbs 99.7% of Light

Zachary Shahan — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 14:30:15 +0000

Natcore Tech and National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) scientists have created the “blackest” solar cell to date, a black silicon solar cell that absorbs an incredible 99.7% of the light that hits its surface. “Today’s solar cells absorb about 95 percent of the sun’s radiation,” NREL notes. NREL actually holds the record for a

Blackest Solar Cell to Date Absorbs 99.7% of Light was originally published on CleanTechnica.

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'Black Silicon' Could Revolutionize Solar Cell Technology

Andrew Williams — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 21:17:36 +0000

A newly discovered material called ‘black silicon’ is between 100 and 500 times more sensitive to light than conventional silicon, and could be used to revolutionize solar energy generation. The material was discovered when a team of Harvard University scientists shone an ultra-powerful laser (briefly producing the same amount of energy as the sun falling

'Black Silicon' Could Revolutionize Solar Cell Technology was originally published on CleanTechnica.

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