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Tag Archives: solar cell

Additive allows perovskite solar cells to be made in the open air

michael_mcgehee CU Boulder

Perovskite solar cells can be made in the open air rather than in an inert atmosphere, according to an international research team. Working with p–i–n perovskite solar cells, they added dimethylammonium formate to the perovskite precursors to inhibit the oxidization of iodide ions and deprotonation of organic cations. The cells achieved nearly 25% efficiency (1.53eV cell), and retained 90% of ...

Oxford PV claims record for perovskite-silicon solar panel

Oxford-PV_17000m2-industrial-site_Brandenburg-an-der-Havel-Germany-

Oxford PV is claiming an efficiency record for solar panels based on perovskite-on-silicon tandem photovoltaic cells. “Produced in collaboration with the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems, the panel achieved a record 25% conversion efficiency, a significant increase on the more typical 24% efficiency of commercial modules,” according to the company. The panel was made using equipment and expertise at ...

CES: Energy harvester optimised for small solar cells

ePeas AEM00920 harvester IC

E-peas has created an energy harvesting IC specifically for hand-held remote controls and wireless keyboards equipped with small solar cells. A cold start is possible from an input voltage as low as 275mV if 5µW of power is available. There are two versions, which optimise loading of the photovoltaic source in two different ways to get the best out of ...

Nano-imprint anti-reflection for perovskite solar cells

UofWarsaw Fraunhofer ISE perovskite anti reflection

Solar cells tend to work better with an anti-reflection coating, and perovskite solar cells are no exception. Planar magnesium fluoride anti-reflection coatings work on perovskite cells, but could the nano-scale surface texturing used on some silicon cells be applied to pervoskite cells? This was the question asked at the University of Warsaw, which worked with the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar ...

Falling solar-powered e-leaf changes aerodynamics on command

UofWashington microfliers fold in air detail Mark Stone/University of Washington

Researchers at the University of Washington have created a battery-free robot that falls through the air in aero-dynamically unstable or stable ways on command. Dropped in clusters, they spread out until commanded to fall straight. “They use an origami fold to switch from tumbling through the air to dropping straight to the ground,” according to the university. “To spread out ...

Taming a promising, but flaky, solar perovskite

TokyoTech stablised perovskite

A cubic perovskite α-formamidinium lead iodide known as ‘α-FAPbI3‘ would be a promising solar cell material if it did not gradually turn into useless δ-FAPbI3 at room temperature under the influence of, of all things, light. Water has the same effect. “Solar cells made of α-FAPbI3 exhibit a 25.8% conversion efficiency and an energy gap of 1.48eV, specifications that are ...

Energy harvester dc-dc can run from two ambient sources

e-peas AEM13920 energy harvester

E-peas has created a power IC that can mediate between two energy harvesters, a 5V charger, a power store and a load. AEM13920 can work from any combination of two sources including: photo-voltaic cells, thermo-electric generators, RF energy harvesters or kinetic pulsed sources. “For instance, a remote control could have separate PV cells on its front and rear, to maintain ...

Perovskite-CIGS tandem solar cell is 24.9% efficient

Midsummer CIGS PVSK tandem solar

Swedish thin film solar cell company Midsummer has demonstrated a tandem thin-film solar cell that hits 24.9% efficiency. Midsummer makes CIGS (copper indium gallium selenide) solar cells, and it collaborated with University of California, Los Angeles and Pioneer Materials to stack a perovskite cell on top of one of its products to make the tandem cell – with the wide-bandgap ...

Crystal engineering adds life to Perovskite solar cells

Michael Grätzel EPFL

Two advances that increase the life of perovskite cells were published in Science this week, both involving Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and its solar cell guru Michael Grätzel (pictured). One of them was the discovery that promoting (111) crystal facets at the surface of perovskite thin films makes them more stable in the face of heat, light and ...