Move Over, Orange: Copper Is The New Black (Silicon)
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.
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.
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 … [continued]
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 … [continued]
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 … [continued]
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 … [continued]
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 … [continued]
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 … [continued]
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. […]
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 … [continued]
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 … [continued]