Solar Cell

Quantum dots have shown promise in solar cells. Now, researchers at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) have developed a new type of quantum dot solar cell that isn’t made with the toxic elements found in most, while maintaining efficiency.

It sounds counterintuitive to put solar cells indoors, but there’s light energy inside that’s largely going to waste. Now a team of engineers has created flexible perovskite solar cells with the highest efficiency of any indoor flexible solar cells.

Perovskite makes for efficient solar cells, but it’s a bit too fragile. Now, a team has found that adding one bulky molecule can stabilize the material, making it stackable in layers and opening up its usefulness in solar cells and other electronics.

Windows capable of harvesting energy from the sun have been on the horizon for a number of years, but they're yet to help cut down a building's energy costs. A new development from Australian researchers may change that.

Solar cells are constantly improving on the road to maximum efficiency. Now, three records have been broken by two different devices, including one that pushes the highest overall solar conversion efficiency towards the 50-percent mark.

The Sun is a great source of energy, but of course those rays can be damaging as well. Engineers in Korea have now developed a new way to make perovskite solar cells to protect them from the elements without reducing their efficiency.

Stacking perovskite solar cells on top of silicon ones is one way to increase the amount of sunlight harnessed. Now researchers at Australian National University (ANU) have broken a new efficiency record for these tandem solar cells.

Scientists working on quantum dot solar cells have made a major breakthrough in the area, smashing the previous world record for conversion efficiency by close to 25 percent and bringing the idea of flexible, see-through solar cells one step closer.

Semi-transparent solar cells could be built into the glass roof panels of greenhouses, capturing light at wavelengths that plants don’t use anyway. Models suggest that in some cases these greenhouses could become completely self-sufficient.

Scientists in Korea believe they’ve found a way around the opaque nature of conventional solar cells, with a new technique that involves punching carefully placed holes right through them to make them transparent.

Scientists at Sweden's KTH Royal Institute of Technology have developed a new film they say can be layered over the top of solar cells to capture infrared light, boosting their efficiency by as much as 25 percent.

Researchers have developed an organic solar cell that's optimized for use with indoor light.