Next-generation lithium-ion batteries that hold more than 3 times the charge that current batteries do and can recharge in around 10 minutes are now within reach. The new design, created by researchers at the University of Southern California (USC), may be commercially available within only 2-3 years according to those … [continued]
For more than a decade, scientists have tried to improve lithium-based batteries by replacing the graphite in one terminal with silicon, which can store 10 times more charge. But after just a few charge/discharge cycles, the silicon structure would crack and crumble, rendering the battery useless. Now a team led … [continued]
Okayama Graduate School of Science and Technology is one of many developing solar cells and batteries, but their research team, led by one Professor Naoshi Ikeda, has a unique approach. Instead of silicon, currently the standard component in solar cells, the Okayama team is using an iron oxide compound it calls “green ferrite,” or GF. Professor Ikeda has gone so far as to claim his product will produce 100x the amount of energy as a traditional silicon solar cell.
Prices for polysilicon–the basic material used to make solar photovoltaic cells–have dropped precipitously in recent years and that trend looks set to continue as big Asian suppliers pursue a cutthroat, low cost-high volume strategy that Chinese solar panel manufacturers, and other export-driven Asian economies, have used successfully for decades.
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]
Some clean tech news and views from around that we didn’t cover this week: Caltech Researchers Create Highly Absorbing, Flexible Solar Cells with Silicon Wire Arrays Using arrays of long, thin silicon wires embedded in a polymer substrate, a team of scientists from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) has … [continued]
Dry water might sound like an oxymoron but the concept is pretty straightforward: encapsulate microdrops of water in silica (otherwise known as common sand) to form a substance that looks like powdered sugar, then sit back and watch the fun. Though it was first discovered in 1968, the unique properties … [continued]
Shrink Nanotechnologies is one of several companies that is using bioplastics to find a new way of making devices that will minimize the use of increasingly-scarce rare metals. The company’s OptiSol Solar Concentrator is billed as a nanotechnology-based plastic solar concentrator and solar film. Traditional silicon solar cells absorb only … [continued]
Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories have come up with a new photovoltaic cell no bigger than a flake of glitter, but it packs a big punch. The new cell uses 100 times less silicon to generate the same amount of electricity as conventional solar cells. While still in the … [continued]
New research by leading alternative energy research firm New Energy Finance finds that solar power will cost less by about 50% at the end of 2009 compared to the end of 2008. The costs are pre-subsidy, so they could be much lower if you take better government subsidies into account. … [continued]
