Originally published on Solar Love. Solar Frontier, a Japan-based thin-film solar technology company, has reportedly broken the CZTS solar cell efficiency record, in partnership with IBM and TOK. The efficiency record was set on a solar cell 0.42 square centimeters in size. The new record is 12.6% efficiency. The previous record of 11.1% was held … [continued]
Solar cells that are cheaper to produce and contain fewer toxic compounds may be a reality in the near future, thanks to new research from Oregon State University. By utilizing a commonly used antifreeze — ethylene glycol — and some other comparatively cheap materials to produce solar cells in a … [continued]
This article was originally published on CleanTechnica sister site Green Building Elements. A Copper Zinc Tin Selenide (CZTSe) solar cell technology has achieved an efficiency of 9.7% and an open-circuit voltage of 0.41 volts, a bit less than the 0.5 volts that most silicon-based solar cells achieve. (Solar cells are … [continued]
Another fun solar science story, this one via the University of Utah: University of Utah metallurgists used an old microwave oven to produce a nanocrystal semiconductor rapidly using cheap, abundant and less toxic metals than other semiconductors. They hope it will be used for more efficient photovoltaic solar cells and … [continued]
This article was originally published on RenewEconomy: Showa Shell, the Japanese subsidiary of global oil giant Royal Dutch Shell, has predicted that its solar unit Solar Frontier will be able to cut production costs of its solar modules by half in the next few years as it seeks to emerge … [continued]
