Researchers at RTI International have developed a new solar power technology that could make solar energy much more affordable. This breakthrough in low-cost, high-efficiency solar energy could greatly help to speed-up its market adoption. The new solar cells are created from “solutions of semiconductor particles, known as colloidal quantum … [continued]
A major breakthrough has been made in the development of colloidal quantum dot (CQD) films, leading to the most efficient CQD solar cell ever. The new solar cell was created out of very inexpensive materials, and has been certified at a world-record 7.0% efficiency. That’s a 37% increase in … [continued]
A team of researchers at the University of California, Merced (UC Merced), has found a way to redesign luminescent solar concentrators in order to make them “more efficient at sending sunlight to solar cells.” This could have a pretty big impact on future solar technologies….
The Department of Defense has been on a roll with new solar energy installations, but the real action is going on behind the scenes in laboratories where DoD is quietly supporting research into low cost, lightweight solar cells enhanced with quantum dots. In the latest project, researchers from the Army … [continued]
As far as innovation on the technology front, this one is a winner. In tabulating efficiency ratings, however, quantum cells don’t seem to perform as well as either silicon-based or CIGS solar cells. This may soon change. Nature Materials writes that a new efficiency record for wrapping colloidal quantum dot solar cells may represent a step towards narrowing the gap.
Scientists at Stanford University have given the vision of cheap solar power another nudge along the path to reality. They are working with tiny particles called quantum dots, which can be adjusted or “tuned” to absorb different wavelengths of light. Quantum dots are relatively cheap because they can be churned … [continued]
Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin are hot on the heels of a discovery that could more than double the efficiency of solar cells. The trick is to use tiny nanoscale crystals called quantum dots to capture more of the available energy in sunlight, including energy at the … [continued]
