Solar Cell
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Scientists have demonstrated how encasing algae in tiny liquid crystal droplets can boost its natural energy harvesting abilities by up to three times, marking another step toward commercial viability for artificial photosynthesis.
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Startup SunDrive is developing alternative silicon solar cells that use more sustainable copper instead of silver, and it has now shown how the abundant metal can push the technology into new terrain by claiming a world record for efficiency.
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Scientists in Switzerland have been working to bring the efficiency of CIGS flexible solar cells up to the levels offered by rigid solar cells, and have taken another step toward this goal by setting a new record of 21.4 percent.
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Perovskites are quickly emerging in the solar energy field, thanks to their ability to convert photons into electricity. Now this process has been tweaked to pick up neutrons instead, making an effective detector for leaks from radioactive materials.
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Maxeon Solar Technologies reckons that it's come up with a way to install PV panels on the roofs of buildings that may not be able to support conventional setups, creating frameless, thin and lightweight panels that can be adhered directly to a roof.
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Would transparent solar cells installed in greenhouse roofs deprive plants of vital sunlight? To find out, researchers at North Carolina State University grew lettuce under various wavelengths of light, and found that the plants did just fine.
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Picture solar panels, and you’re most likely picturing a solid square slab. But the tech is becoming more flexible, and now engineers at Pusan National University in Korea have developed prototype solar cells that are fully foldable.
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