Australian solar technicians with the Victorian Organic Solar Cell Consortium have announced that they will soon put a new printable solar cell technology on the market.
Category: solar power – Page 150
Large-scale technique to produce quantum dots
Nice new method in producing Q-Dots which seems to be more cost effective, efficient and reliable.
Large-scale technique to produce quantum dots.
A method to produce significant amounts of semiconducting nanoparticles for light-emitting displays, sensors, solar panels and biomedical applications has gained momentum with a demonstration by researchers at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Nanotechnology could enable use of Solar Energy at night
Using the power of nano to solar power our homes at night.
MIT researchers have built a new experimental solar cell which could greatly enhance power efficiency. The “Shockley-Queisser’ limit is the estimated maximum efficiency of a solar cell, which is commonly about 32%; that means almost 70% of energy is wasted in the form of heat.
One way to reduce energy loss is by stacking cells. However if sunlight could be turned into heat and then be re-emitted as light, the solar cells could utilize more energy. Solar cells work best with visible light which occurs midway of the radiation spectrum. As a result the radiations with shorter and greater wavelengths usually go to waste.
The researchers at MIT have developed a structure of carbon nano-tubes that will function between the sun and solar cell. These carbon nano-tubes are very good absorbents of light (all types of radiation) and convert it to heat; heat is easier to store unlike light.
A Battery Made From Metal and Air Is Electrifying the Developing World
Got to luv this.
Is this brand new type of battery the key to clean energy and off-grid electricity?
Lithium-ion batteries are having a moment. After becoming the de facto battery in laptops and cell phones over the years, they’re now starting to power electric cars (like those made by Tesla) and plug into the power grid.
But lithium-ion batteries aren’t the only battery type in town. Some brand new battery varieties could actually be more promising than lithium-ion when it comes to storing energy generated by solar panels or used to power remote villages in Africa, India, and Asia.
ORNL demonstrates large-scale technique to produce quantum dots
Q-Dots ORNL style.
VIDEO: A method to produce significant amounts of semiconducting nanoparticles for light-emitting displays, sensors, solar panels and biomedical applications has gained momentum with a demonstration by researchers at Oak Ridge National… view more
Credit: Jenny Woodbery, ORNL
Airbus Defence and Space Enters Solar Cell Production Contract with MicroLink Devices for Next Generation Zephyr HAPS
Nice.
NILES, Ill., May 18, 2016 /PRNewswire/ — MicroLink Devices is proud to announce that Airbus Defence and Space has issued a production contract for MicroLink’s epitaxial liftoff (ELO)-based multijunction solar sheets for use on the new Zephyr S platform.
Space exploration will spur transhumanism and mitigate existential risk
Friends have been asking me to write something on space exploration and my campaign policy on it, so here it is just out on TechCrunch:
When people think about rocket ships and space exploration, they often imagine traveling across the Milky Way, landing on mysterious planets and even meeting alien life forms.
In reality, humans’ drive to get off Planet Earth has led to tremendous technological advances in our mundane daily lives — ones we use right here at home on terra firma.
I recently walked through Boston’s Logan International Airport; a NASA display reminded me that GPS navigation, anti-icing systems, memory foam and LED lights were all originally created for space travel. Other inventions NASA science has created include the pacemaker, scratch-resistant lenses and the solar panel.
These types of advancements are one of the most important reasons I am hoping our next U.S. president will try to jump-start the American space program — both privately and publicly. Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear any of them are talking about the issue. But they should be. As we enter the transhumanist age — the era of bionic limbs, brain implants and artificial intelligence — space exploration might once again dramatically lead us forward in discovering the most our species can become.
This ‘nanocavity’ may improve ultrathin solar panels, video cameras and more
The future of movies and manufacturing may be in 3D, but electronics and photonics are going 2-D; specifically, two-dimensional semiconducting materials.
One of the latest advancements in these fields centers on molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), a two-dimensional semiconductor that, while commonly used in lubricants and steel alloys, is still being explored in optoelectronics.
Recently, engineers placed a single layer of MoS2 molecules on top of a photonic structure called an optical nanocavity made of aluminum oxide and aluminum. (A nanocavity is an arrangement of mirrors that allows beams of light to circulate in closed paths. These cavities help us build things like lasers and optical fibers used for communications.)
First single-enzyme method to produce quantum dots revealed
Creating Q-Dots/ QDs (Acronym seems to depend on which reference book, article that you read) more cheaply and efficiently too.
Quantum dots (QDs) are semiconducting nanocrystals prized for their optical and electronic properties. The brilliant, pure colors produced by QDs when stimulated with ultraviolet light are ideal for use in flat screen displays, medical imaging devices, solar panels and LEDs. One obstacle to mass production and widespread use of these wonder particles is the difficulty and expense associated with current chemical manufacturing methods that often requiring heat, high pressure and toxic solvents.
But now three Lehigh University engineers have successfully demonstrated the first precisely controlled, biological way to manufacture quantum dots using a single-enzyme, paving the way for a significantly quicker, cheaper and greener production method. Their work was recently featured in an article in The New York Times called “A curious tale of quantum dots.”
The Lehigh team— Bryan Berger, Class of 1961 Associate Professor, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering; Chris Kiely, Harold B. Chambers Senior Professor, Materials Science and Engineering and Steven McIntosh, Class of 1961 Associate Professor, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, along with Ph.D. candidate Li Lu and undergraduate Robert Dunleavy—have detailed their findings in an article called “Single Enzyme Biomineralization of Cadmium Sulfide Nanocrystals with Controlled Optical Properties” published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).