For solar cells to be widely used in the coming decades, researchers must resolve two major challenges: increasing efficiency and lowering toxicity. Researchers have recently been working with a material―an emerging chalcogenide perovskite CaZrSe3―that has shown great potential for energy conversion applications because of its notable optical and electrical properties. “TheseRead More

A cheaper, cleaner and more sustainable way of making hydrogen fuel from water using sunlight is a step closer thanks to new research from the University of Bath’s Centre for Sustainable Chemical Technologies. With the pressure on global leaders to reduce carbon emissions significantly to solve a climate change emergency,Read More

Scientists at the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA have found that caffeine improves the stability of materials under heat – a property known as thermal stability — of perovskite solar cells, which could someday replace traditional silicon-based solar cells. The research, published in the journal Joule, was led by YangRead More

Rigid silicon solar panels dominate the utility and residential markets, but opportunity exists for thin-film photovoltaic and emerging technologies notable for being lightweight and flexible, according to scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Thin films such as cadmium telluride (CdTe) and copper indium galliumRead More

Perovskite materials are always on the horizon for the solar industry, holding promise as a future solution to the long-standing problem of solar cell efficiency, which is of primary importance in today’s solar panel market. And while there have been numerous reports of perovskite/silicon (wafer) tandem solar cells, remarkably thereRead More

As perovskite solar cells set efficiency records and the nascent technology becomes more stable, another major challenge remains: the issue of scalability, according to researchers at the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). “It is scalable,” said Kai Zhu, a materials science researcher at NREL. “We just needRead More

Over the past decade, perovskites have rapidly evolved into a promising technology, now with the ability to convert about 23 percent of sunlight into electricity, but work is still needed to make the devices durable enough for long-term use. Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy LaboratoryRead More

Perovskite solar cells are the most tantalizing research category in the solar industry because of their efficiency and versatility, but thus far haven’t budged outside a lab setting. A microscopic analysis conducted by the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory has revealed new insight into how the devices degrade— huge information forRead More

The solar industry is forever in need of constant innovation and scientific breakthrough. Even now, with PV capacity reaching record highs, prices continuing to fall and efficiencies inching up, more innovation is needed. A lot more. (Not to mention whatever fallout is felt in the module market following the SectionRead More

Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) developed a new perovskite ink with a long processing window that allows the scalable production of perovskite thin films for high-efficiency solar cells. Proven highly efficient at converting sunlight into electricity, perovskite solar cells have yet toRead More