CleanTechnica » Solar Cell Efficiency

New Solar Cell Can Handle The Force Of 1,000 Suns

Tina Casey — Wed, 17 Dec 2014 12:43:41 +0000

A new solar cell from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory is designed for a concentration of 1,000 suns and can reach 45.7 percent efficiency

New Solar Cell Can Handle The Force Of 1,000 Suns was originally published on CleanTechnica.

To read more from CleanTechnica, join over 50,000 other subscribers: Google+ | Email | Facebook | RSS | Twitter.

New Solar Cell Efficiency Record Set At 46%

Guest Contributor — Wed, 03 Dec 2014 18:00:13 +0000

Originally published on RenewEconomy. A new world record for the conversion of sunlight into electricity has been established in Europe, after a multi-junction solar cell developed through a French-German collaboration achieved 46 per cent efficiency – up from 43.6%. The record was achieved using a four-junction cell, developed by Soitec and CEA-Leti in France, together

New Solar Cell Efficiency Record Set At 46% was originally published on CleanTechnica.

To read more from CleanTechnica, join over 50,000 other subscribers: Google+ | Email | Facebook | RSS | Twitter.

New Solar Cell Efficiency From Old Blu-Ray Discs

Tina Casey — Wed, 26 Nov 2014 16:46:37 +0000

A team from Northwestern University has figured out how Harrison Ford can improve your solar cell efficiency and lower your manufacturing costs, too

New Solar Cell Efficiency From Old Blu-Ray Discs was originally published on CleanTechnica.

To read more from CleanTechnica, join over 50,000 other subscribers: Google+ | Email | Facebook | RSS | Twitter.

“Turbo Boost” For Silicon Solar Cells Could Seal Doom For Diesel

Tina Casey — Fri, 12 Sep 2014 12:15:16 +0000

The Oxford University spinoff Oxford PV has switched gears to push forward with its "turbo-boosting" lead-free perovskite solar cell efficiency solution

“Turbo Boost” For Silicon Solar Cells Could Seal Doom For Diesel was originally published on CleanTechnica.

To read more from CleanTechnica, join over 50,000 other subscribers: Google+ | Email | Facebook | RSS | Twitter.

Solar Cell Efficiency Rises By 30% Through Singlet Fission

Sandy Dechert — Fri, 11 Jul 2014 10:50:55 +0000

Scientists were pretty excited when they discovered you could convert light energy directly into electricity by capturing photons in semiconductors, exciting them into “excitons” (bound electron with negative charge and hole with positive), and capturing the resultant current through electrodes. Now a group of four chemists from the University of California, Riverside, has worked out a

Solar Cell Efficiency Rises By 30% Through Singlet Fission was originally published on CleanTechnica.

To read more from CleanTechnica, join over 50,000 other subscribers: Google+ | Email | Facebook | RSS | Twitter.

Hyperbolic Metamaterials Could Drive Solar Costs Down, Down, Down

Tina Casey — Thu, 15 May 2014 12:08:00 +0000

We haven’t checked in on the metamaterials scene in a few months but here’s something that caught our eye. A bigger-than-usual research team spearheaded by Purdue University has developed a new hyperbolic metamaterial that has numerous applications in the optical field, including high efficiency solar cells. While not the only factor in the overall cost

Hyperbolic Metamaterials Could Drive Solar Costs Down, Down, Down was originally published on CleanTechnica.

To read more from CleanTechnica, join over 50,000 other subscribers: Google+ | Email | Facebook | RSS | Twitter.

First Solar Knocks It Out Of The Park With New Solar Cell Efficiency Record

Tina Casey — Thu, 27 Feb 2014 13:07:27 +0000

This one really knocked our socks off. The last time we checked in on First Solar was almost exactly one year ago, when the company announced a world solar cell efficiency record of 18.7 percent for its thin film solar technology. Now it has crushed its own record, cracking the 20 percent barrier with a

First Solar Knocks It Out Of The Park With New Solar Cell Efficiency Record was originally published on CleanTechnica.

To read more from CleanTechnica, join over 50,000 other subscribers: Google+ | Email | Facebook | RSS | Twitter.

Color This New Solar Cell Efficiency Breakthrough Blue

Tina Casey — Sat, 25 Jan 2014 14:04:11 +0000

If you had to pick the best color for solar cell efficiency off the top of your head, yellow – as in sunlight – would probably get the nod. However, there is a lot of efficiency to be mined in the blue end of the spectrum. The problem is, blue light has excess energy that

Color This New Solar Cell Efficiency Breakthrough Blue was originally published on CleanTechnica.

To read more from CleanTechnica, join over 50,000 other subscribers: Google+ | Email | Facebook | RSS | Twitter.

Wall Street Suddenly Loves Solar, Just In Time For New Solar Cell Efficiency Breakthrough

Tina Casey — Mon, 06 Jan 2014 13:11:17 +0000

Over the weekend, the New York Times noted that the solar power “craze” is partly responsible for Wall Street’s recent good times. The Times used the example of solar giant SolarCity, which has seen a sevenfold increase in its share price to $59.27 since it went public, but this could just be starters for the

Wall Street Suddenly Loves Solar, Just In Time For New Solar Cell Efficiency Breakthrough was originally published on CleanTechnica.

To read more from CleanTechnica, join over 50,000 other subscribers: Google+ | Email | Facebook | RSS | Twitter.

CIGS Solar Cell Efficiency Gets A Tweak From Swiss Research Team

Tina Casey — Sat, 09 Nov 2013 12:37:54 +0000

The solar cell efficiency horse race is in full swing and it seems like every other week a new record-breaking announcement comes out, but let’s take a step back and consider how efficiency is just one element in the installed cost of solar power. Another key factor is the cost of manufacturing, as demonstrated by

CIGS Solar Cell Efficiency Gets A Tweak From Swiss Research Team was originally published on CleanTechnica.

To read more from CleanTechnica, join over 50,000 other subscribers: Google+ | Email | Facebook | RSS | Twitter.

Record Breaking Solar Cell Efficiency From A “Perfect Crystal”

Tina Casey — Mon, 28 Oct 2013 12:20:54 +0000

Gallium is already on its way to becoming the workhorse of the solar tech field, and now it looks like the soft metal is is on track to become a thoroughbred. A team of US scientists has hit upon an improved method for growing indium gallium nitride (InGaN) crystals that could lead to record-breaking solar

Record Breaking Solar Cell Efficiency From A “Perfect Crystal” was originally published on CleanTechnica.

To read more from CleanTechnica, join over 50,000 other subscribers: Google+ | Email | Facebook | RSS | Twitter.

Solar Cell Efficiency Breakthrough Achieved By Channeling LEGO

Tina Casey — Tue, 22 Oct 2013 12:14:12 +0000

Chalk up another score for aluminum. The humble — as in, cheap and abundant — metal has been popping up all over the sustainable tech field, and in the latest development, an international research team has demonstrated that nanoscale LEGO-style array of aluminum studs can improve solar cell efficiency by up to 22 percent. If

Solar Cell Efficiency Breakthrough Achieved By Channeling LEGO was originally published on CleanTechnica.

To read more from CleanTechnica, join over 50,000 other subscribers: Google+ | Email | Facebook | RSS | Twitter.

Cost Of Solar Set To Plummet With New 44.7% Efficiency Record

Tina Casey — Tue, 24 Sep 2013 17:47:42 +0000

A research team in Europe has achieved a world record-setting solar conversion efficiency of 44.7 percent, and assuming that higher efficiency translates into lower costs (someday), it’s yet another indicator that we’re only at the beginning of a long decline in the cost of solar power. Solar (and wind, for that matter) is already competitive

Cost Of Solar Set To Plummet With New 44.7% Efficiency Record was originally published on CleanTechnica.

To read more from CleanTechnica, join over 50,000 other subscribers: Google+ | Email | Facebook | RSS | Twitter.

Dog Bites Man As Amonix Sets Yet Another Solar Cell Efficiency Record

Tina Casey — Wed, 21 Aug 2013 12:21:37 +0000

You know we’re getting somewhere when record-shattering solar power efficiency marks are popping up faster than zombies at your local Comic Con, so let’s hear it for the California-based innovator Amonix, which has been setting records practically since it first started up in 1989. In the latest development, Amonix has just achieved a 35.9 percent

Dog Bites Man As Amonix Sets Yet Another Solar Cell Efficiency Record was originally published on CleanTechnica.

To read more from CleanTechnica, join over 50,000 other subscribers: Google+ | Email | Facebook | RSS | Twitter.

How Low Can Solar Go? Check Out Empa’s New Thin Film Breakthrough

Tina Casey — Fri, 16 Aug 2013 12:18:06 +0000

What a difference 34 years can make. When the Carter Administration installed solar panels at the White House back in 1979, photovoltaic cells were space age technology that most households could not afford, aside from the rare DIY-er. Now the price of solar power has been sinking like a stone, thanks partly to the introduction

How Low Can Solar Go? Check Out Empa’s New Thin Film Breakthrough was originally published on CleanTechnica.

To read more from CleanTechnica, join over 50,000 other subscribers: Google+ | Email | Facebook | RSS | Twitter.

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.

To read more from CleanTechnica, join over 50,000 other subscribers: Google+ | Email | Facebook | RSS | Twitter.

Solar Cell Efficiency World Record Set By Sharp — 44.4%

Mathias — Sun, 23 Jun 2013 18:32:49 +0000

Editor’s Note: In May, Sharp regained the world’s triple-junction, non-concentrator solar cell efficiency record — 37.9%. Now, it has also taken the overall world solar cell efficiency record — 44.4%. Here’s another repost from Solar Love on the news. A research team at Sharp Corporation has announced that it has created a solar cell capable of converting 44.4%

Solar Cell Efficiency World Record Set By Sharp — 44.4% was originally published on CleanTechnica.

To read more from CleanTechnica, join over 50,000 other subscribers: Google+ | Email | Facebook | RSS | Twitter.

New Plasmonic Polymer Solar Cells Achieve Record Efficiency Of 8.92%

James Ayre — Fri, 10 May 2013 08:52:00 +0000

A new polymer solar cells designed by researchers at the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology has achieved a record for the highest efficiency of any plasmonic PSCs that utilize metal nanoparticles. The new record is not far off of the 10% conversion efficiency level that the researchers think will allow the technology to

New Plasmonic Polymer Solar Cells Achieve Record Efficiency Of 8.92% was originally published on CleanTechnica.

To read more from CleanTechnica, join over 50,000 other subscribers: Google+ | Email | Facebook | RSS | Twitter.

Hi-Tech Spit And Polish Improves Solar Cell Efficiency

Tina Casey — Tue, 07 May 2013 12:00:14 +0000

Along with the well-known enemies of solar cell efficiency such as dust and pollen, a known unknown recently popped up when researchers began to realize that traces of residue left over from the manufacturing process can reduce the efficiency of solar cells, long before they are exposed to the harsh realities of the outdoor environment.

Hi-Tech Spit And Polish Improves Solar Cell Efficiency was originally published on CleanTechnica.

To read more from CleanTechnica, join over 50,000 other subscribers: Google+ | Email | Facebook | RSS | Twitter.

Solar News Roundup (SunEdison & Foxconn Link Up, Solar Junction Going To Space…)

Zachary Shahan — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 16:26:41 +0000

Solar news, galore. Check ‘er out: Fox Energy, Foxconn Subsidiary, To Supply SunEdison With Solar Modules Manufactured In Mexico Study Finds Wind-Solar Hybrid Power Plants Are Twice As Efficient Solar Junction To Provide Solar Cells For European Space Agency Intersolar North America To Put More Focus On Storage New Solar Cell Material Approach To Advance

Solar News Roundup (SunEdison & Foxconn Link Up, Solar Junction Going To Space…) was originally published on CleanTechnica.

To read more from CleanTechnica, join over 50,000 other subscribers: Google+ | Email | Facebook | RSS | Twitter.