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Category: solar power

Quantum simulator reveals how vibrations steer energy flow in molecules

Researchers led by Rice University’s Guido Pagano used a specialized quantum device to simulate a vibrating molecule and track how energy moves within it. The work, published Dec. 5 in Nature Communications, could improve understanding of basic mechanisms behind phenomena such as photosynthesis and solar energy conversion.

The researchers modeled a simple two-site molecule with one part supplying energy and the other receiving it, both shaped by vibrations and their environment. By tuning the system, they could directly observe energy moving from donor to acceptor and study how vibrations and energy loss influence that transfer, providing a controlled way to test theories of energy flow in complex materials.

“We can now observe how energy moves in a synthetic molecule while independently adjusting each variable to see what truly matters,” said Pagano, assistant professor of physics and astronomy.

Artificial photosynthesis catalyst converts carbon dioxide into fuel using sunlight

A joint research team has developed a highly efficient photocatalyst that can convert carbon dioxide into the high-value-added fuel, methane, using sunlight, while explaining its operating principles. The work is published in the journal ACS Catalysis.

Carbon dioxide is a typical greenhouse gas, considered a major cause of climate change, and developing technologies to effectively reduce it is an important challenge worldwide.

The photocatalyst technology that caught the interest of the research team is a type of artificial photosynthesis technology that uses solar energy to convert carbon dioxide into fuel. It has garnered significant attention for its potential to contribute to carbon neutrality and eco-friendly energy production.

New green homes in the UK put less strain on the grid than models predicted

A study of some of the first net-zero-ready homes in the UK has found that their peak grid power demand is far lower than planners had anticipated. The research confirms that these all-electric homes can significantly cut energy use and emissions.

Buildings account for around 37% of global energy-related emissions, with residential properties making up approximately 17% of that total. In 2019, the UK government set an ambitious target to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. To help meet it, the Future Homes Standard requires all new homes built from 2025 to cut their by 75% to 80%.

Fully electric homes use technologies like air-source heat pumps (ASHPs) for heating (by extracting heat from outdoor air) and solar PV panels for electricity generation. But the big question has been whether they work as promised and achieve their energy efficiency goals in the real world.

Perovskite solar cells maintain 95% of power conversion efficiency after 1,100 hours at 85°C with new molecular coating

Scientists have found a way to make perovskite solar cells not only highly efficient but also remarkably stable, addressing one of the main challenges holding the technology back from widespread use.

Perovskite has long been hailed as a game-changer for the next generation of solar power. However, advances in material design are still needed to boost the efficiency and durability of solar panels that convert sunlight into electricity.

New 3D-printed solar cells for windows offer semi-transparency

These flexible cells achieve 9.2 percent energy efficiency while maintaining 35 percent transparency.

Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have created semi-transparent, color-tunable solar cells.

Interestingly, these can be 3D-printed onto windows, building façades, and flexible surfaces.

These panels shed the bulky, industrial look of solar arrays, giving designers the choice between a slightly transparent window or a vibrant, color-tinted architectural feature.

Peering inside perovskite: 3D imaging reveals how passivation boosts solar cell efficiency

Perovskite solar cells have garnered widespread attention as a low-cost, high-efficiency alternative to conventional silicon photovoltaics. However, defects in perovskite films impede charge transport, resulting in energy loss and compromised operational stability.

One solution to this problem is “passivation treatment”—a process that adds chemicals such as simple salts or organic molecules to the film. These small molecules or ions latch onto defects in the perovskite material, preventing the defects from interfering with electrical flow. Unfortunately, verifying the internal efficacy of various passivation treatments remains challenging since most characterization techniques only probe the surface or provide averaged macroscopic information.

Now, however, researchers at the Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering (NIMTE) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) have made an important breakthrough by developing a three-dimensional (3D) electrical imaging technique that directly reveals how defect passivation treatments work in perovskite films. The study was published in Newton on December 31.

On-demand hydrogen fuel production goes dark-mode

Hydrogen, the lightest element on the periodic table, is a master of escaping almost any container it’s stored in. Its extremely small size allows it to squeeze through atomic-scale gaps in the storage materials, which is one of the major issues hindering hydrogen energy from becoming mainstream.

A team of Chinese researchers has solved the issue of containment with on-demand hydrogen production. They developed a simple chemical system containing commercial ammonium metatungstate (W12) and graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) in a liquid suspension. This system captures solar energy and, rather than converting it into electricity, uses it to produce hydrogen fuel on demand—even in darkness.

The new system provided twofold benefits: it made solar energy available even when the sun isn’t shining, and it eliminated the need to transport hydrogen in dangerous, high-pressure tanks.

Why Everyone Is Talking About Data Centers In Space

Questions to inspire discussion.

Launch Economics & Viability.

🚀 Q: What launch cost makes space data centers economically competitive? A: Space data centers become cost-competitive with ground systems when launch costs drop to approximately $200/kg, according to Google’s Suncatcher paper, making the economics viable for moving compute infrastructure off-Earth.

💰 Q: Why might SpaceX pursue a $1.5 trillion IPO valuation? A: The projected $1.5 trillion SpaceX IPO valuation is speculated to fund the capital-intensive race to establish space-based data centers and secure the best orbital positions before competitors.

🏢 Q: Which companies can realistically build space data centers first? A: Vertically integrated organizations like SpaceX, Relativity Space, and Blue Origin lead because they control launch infrastructure, can self-fund deployment, and serve as their own customers for space compute capacity.

🛰️ Q: How would space data centers physically connect GPUs across satellites? A: Multiple free-flying satellites in formation (like 20+ Starlink satellites) use inter-satellite optical connections to enable communication between GPUs, creating high-density computing clusters in orbit.

Continue reading “Why Everyone Is Talking About Data Centers In Space” | >

Vapor-deposition method delivers unprecedented durability in perovskite–silicon tandem solar cells

NUS researchers have developed a vapor-deposition method that dramatically improves the long-term and high-temperature stability of perovskite-silicon (Si) tandem solar cells. The findings were published in Science.

This is the first time vapor deposition has been successfully applied to industrial micrometer-textured silicon wafers, the actual wafer structure used in commercial solar cell manufacturing, marking a major milestone for translating laboratory-scale tandem solar cells into real-world products.

The new method enables conformal, high-quality perovskite growth on industrial micrometer-scale textured silicon wafers, a critical requirement for mass production, and delivers more than 30% power-conversion efficiency with operational stability far exceeding 2,000 hours, including T₉₀ lifetimes —the time taken for performance to drop to 90% of initial output—of over 1,400 hours at 85°C under 1-sun illumination, a standard benchmark in solar energy representing a light intensity of 1,000 watts per square meter.

Hybrid excitons: Combining the best of both worlds

Faster, more efficient, and more versatile—these are the expectations for the technology that will produce our energy and handle information in the future. But how can these expectations be met? A major breakthrough in physics has now been made by an international team of researchers from the Universities of Göttingen, Marburg, the Berlin Humboldt in Germany, and Graz in Austria.

The scientists combined two highly promising types of material—organic semiconductors and two-dimensional semiconductors—and studied their combined response to light using photoelectron spectroscopy and many-body perturbation theory.

This enabled them to observe and describe fundamental microscopic processes, such as energy transfer, at the 2D-organic interface with ultrafast time resolution, meaning one quadrillionth of a second. The combination of these properties holds promise for developing new technology such as the next generation of solar cells. The results are published in Nature Physics.

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