Transparent aluminum oxide (TAlOx), a real material despite its sci-fi name, is incredibly hard and resistant to scratches, making it perfect for protective coatings on electronics, optical sensors, and solar panels. On the sci-fi show Star Trek, it is even used for starship windows and spacefaring aquariums.

Current methods of making TAlOx are expensive and complicated, requiring high-powered lasers, vacuum chambers, or large vats of dangerous acids. That may change thanks to research co-authored by Filipino scientists from Ateneo de Manila University.

Instead of immersing entire sheets of metal into acidic solutions, the researchers applied microdroplets of acidic solution onto small aluminum surfaces and applied an electric current. Just two volts of electricity—barely more than what’s found in a single AA household flashlight battery—was all that was needed to transform the metal into glass-like TAlOx.

Perovskites have long captivated the interest of materials scientists and engineers for their remarkable potential in next-generation solar cells, LEDs, and optoelectronic devices. Now, a newly published study pushes the envelope even further by showing how carefully applied pressure can finely tune the light-handling properties of a 2D hybrid perovskite, marking a significant leap toward real-time structural control in photonic technologies.

The research, carried out using the Canadian Light Source (CLS) at the University of Saskatchewan and the Advanced Photon Source (APS) in Chicago, utilized ultrabright synchrotron radiation to observe how perovskite layers respond under pressure. The focus was a 2D Dion–Jacobson hybrid lead iodide perovskite with alternating organic and inorganic sheets—structures whose interaction defines how the material absorbs, emits, or modulates light.

Skoltech researchers and their colleagues have uncovered an intricate light manipulation mechanism likely used by microscopic algae to boost photosynthesis.

By studying the interaction of light with the elaborately patterned silicon dioxide shells enclosing the single-celled algae, the team hopes to reveal principles that could eventually be leveraged in light detectors, bio-and chemical sensors, protective coatings against ultraviolet rays, solar cells, and other nature-inspired technology, right up to artificial photosynthesis systems using CO₂ and water to make fuel.

The study was published in the journal Optica.

A research team from the School of Engineering (SENG) at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) has introduced comprehensive bio-inspired multiscale design strategies to address key challenges in the commercialization of perovskite solar cells: long-term operational stability. Drawing inspiration from natural systems, these strategies aim to enhance the efficiency, resilience, and adaptability of solar technologies.

Their paper, titled “Bio-Inspired Multiscale Design for Perovskite Solar Cells,” has been published in Nature Reviews Clean Technology.

The approaches focus on leveraging insights from biological structures to create solar cells that can better withstand environmental stressors and prolonged use.

Solar cells and computer chips need silicon layers that are as perfect as possible. Every imperfection in the crystalline structure increases the risk of reduced efficiency or defective switching processes.

If you know how silicon atoms arrange themselves to form a crystal lattice on a thin surface, you gain fundamental insights into controlling crystal growth. To this end, an international research team analyzed the behavior of silicon that was flash-frozen. The study is published in the journal Physical Review Letters.

The results show that the speed of cooling has a major impact on the structure of silicon surfaces. The underlying mechanism may also have occurred during phase transitions in the early universe shortly after the Big Bang.

A research team successfully implemented CuInSe2 thin-film solar cells composed of copper (Cu), indium (In), and selenium (Se) on transparent electrode substrates. Furthermore, the team developed a “bifacial solar cell technology” that receives sunlight from both the front and back sides to generate power. This technology can be fabricated at low temperatures, enabling a simpler production process, and is broadly applicable to building-integrated solar power, agricultural solar power, and high-efficiency tandem solar cells in the future.

A collaborative research team has successfully developed a self-powered pollution prevention technology that can remove pollutants from the surface of solar panels without external power. This technology uses a wind-powered rotational triboelectric nanogenerator to generate power and combines said power with electrodynamic screen (EDS) technology to move dust in the desired direction for removal.

The findings are published in the journal Nano Energy. The team was led by Professor Juhyuck Lee from the Department of Energy Science and Engineering, Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science & Technology, along with Dr. Wanchul Seung at Global Technology Research, Samsung Electronics.

The dust that gathers on the surface of solar panels causes a significant reduction in power production efficiency. EDS technology, designed to address this problem, uses electric fields to remove dust from the surface, and it is noted for environments that are not easily accessible, such as deserts, mountains, and space, as it does not require cleaning equipment or personnel. Traditional EDS technology, however, requires high voltage and, consequently, external power, and it has the disadvantage of additional maintenance costs.

Commercial silicon-based solar cells have made significant improvements in efficiency over the past decade, increasing from around 15% efficiency in 2015 to just shy of 25% in 2025.

Centuries ago, alchemists worked furiously to convert the common metal lead to valuable gold. Today, chemists are repurposing discarded solar panels to create valuable organic compounds from carbon dioxide (CO₂), a common greenhouse gas.

Significantly reducing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere to mitigate the most devastating effects of climate change will require a large reduction in emissions as well as strategies designed to sequester emitted CO₂ and other offending gases. While simply sequestering greenhouse gases would fulfill this goal, creating useful organic chemicals from waste CO₂ is akin to generating valuable materials from trash.

A team of chemists from Yokohama National University, Electric Power Development Co., Ltd. and the Renewable Energy Research Center at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) recently decided to tackle two waste problems—excess CO₂ emissions and decommissioned solar panels —in the pursuit of creating value-added organic chemicals. The team designed a study to determine if recycled components of discarded solar panels could be used to efficiently convert CO₂ into useful, carbon-based compounds.

Imagine that you own a small, 20-acre farm in California’s Central Valley. You and your family have cultivated this land for decades, but drought, increasing costs and decreasing water availability are making each year more difficult.