Solar Cell

Solar cells still have plenty of room for improvement. Researchers at New York University Tandon have now developed thin film that boosts solar cell efficiency by converting wasted wavelengths of light into ones that can produce energy.

Scientists have broken the efficiency record for tandem silicon-perovskite solar cells, surpassing the milestone of 30 percent for the first time. The new record takes the technology beyond the upper limits of silicon alone, using low-cost materials.

Before perovskite can become viable for solar cells, it needs to overcome a major durability issue. Engineers at Princeton have unveiled a new perovskite solar cell design that tests suggest could last as long as 30 years of real-world use.

There’s still room for improvement for solar cells. Stanford engineers have now developed pyramid-shaped lenses that focus sunlight from any angle onto a solar cell, keeping it collecting power from sunrise to sunset.

Researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory have broken the world record for solar cell efficiency. Reaching almost 40 percent, the new device boasts the highest efficiency recorded for any type of solar cell in real-world conditions.

In a world first, a team at the University of New South Wales has demonstrated measurable power generation from "the inverse of a conventional solar cell." It could eventually produce around one tenth as much power as a solar panel – but at night.

Perovskites are promising solar cell candidates, but a major downside is that they degrade in direct sunlight. Researchers have now uncovered a root cause of the problem, and found a simple fix that can be applied during the manufacturing process.

Radio waves don't travel well through water, which is why devices such as ROVS have to be linked to their operator via a communications cable. According to a new study, however, solar panels may soon allow for practical light-based communications.

Perovskite solar cells have come a long way in a short time, but there’s still room for improvement. Engineers have now added a layer of quantum dots to the recipe, resulting in a more stable solar cell with near-record efficiency.

Heating and cooling buildings is a major consumer of energy, especially older ones that weren’t built with modern energy efficiencies in mind. Now Fraunhofer engineers have developed a modular solar-powered facade that can heat or cool rooms.

Solar panels continuously accumulate dust, plus they're often located atop tall buildings or in remote areas – this means that they need to be cleaned, but doing so is difficult. That's why a drone-based setup is now being developed to do the job.

The toxic lead contained in perovskite solar cells presents a risk of it seeping out into the environment when they are damaged, but a newly-developed film likened to Scotch tape could soak up the toxic element before it escapes.