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Scientists develop incredible gravity-powered system that could change the way we use solar panels: ‘It doesn’t consume any electricity’

Researchers in Saudi Arabia have developed a solution to overheating solar panels that requires zero electricity. This development can also double as a method for atmospheric water collection, an important practice in dry regions, as relayed by SciTechDaily.

The research, led by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology professor Qiaoqiang Gan, is important because it addresses the problem of overheating solar panels in particularly hot and sunny regions, such as Saudi Arabia.

Researchers discovered that moisture from atmospheric water could serve as a coolant for the overheating panels. “This water can be collected by atmospheric water harvesting technologies,” Gan stated.

News at KAIST

Existing perovskite solar cells, which have the problem of not being able to utilize approximately 52% of total solar energy, have been developed by a Korean research team as an innovative technology that maximizes near-infrared light capture performance while greatly improving power conversion efficiency. This greatly increases the possibility of commercializing next-generation solar cells and is expected to contribute to important technological advancements in the global solar cell market.

The research team of Professor Jung-Yong Lee of the School of Electrical Engineering at KAIST (President Kwang-Hyung Lee) and Professor Woojae Kim of the Department of Chemistry at Yonsei University announced on October 31st that they have developed a high-efficiency and high-stability organic-inorganic hybrid solar cell production technology that maximizes near-infrared light capture beyond the existing visible light range.

The research team suggested and advanced a hybrid next-generation device structure with organic photo-semiconductors that complements perovskite materials limited to visible light absorption and expands the absorption range to near-infrared.

Bioinspired hydrogels harness sunlight: A step closer to artificial photosynthesis

Mimicking how plants convert sunlight into energy has long been a dream for scientists aiming to create renewable energy solutions. Artificial photosynthesis is a process that seeks to replicate nature’s method, using sunlight to drive chemical reactions that generate clean energy. However, creating synthetic systems that work as organically as natural photosynthesis has been a significant challenge until now.

Scientists make solar breakthrough that could majorly impact future of energy: ‘A critical step’

“The first involved integrating the hole-selective materials and the perovskite layers, to simplify the manufacturing process. The second involved replacing traditional organic materials, such as fullerene and bathocuproine, with tin oxide, an inorganic electron transport layer, in a process known as the atomic layer deposition method,” per PV’s description.

Labspeak aside, the big takeaway is that the changes resulted in a 25% efficiency, meaning the cells can turn a quarter of the sunlight hitting them into energy. What’s more, they maintained 95% of their efficiency after 2,000 hours of operation, per the report.

“The device structure reported in this study represents the most simplified architecture in the current field of perovskite solar cells, offering significant advantages for industrialization,” study co-author Gao Danpeng said in the story.

Perovskite-silicon tandem solar cell based on copper(I) thiocyanate achieves 31.46% efficiency

An international research team has fabricated a 1 cm2 perovskite-silicon tandem solar cell that utilizes a top cell based on a perovskite absorber integrating inorganic copper(I) thiocyanate (CuSCN).

A co-deposition strategy of CuSCN and perovskite is firstly developed to solve the key technical…


A Saudi-Chinese research team has fabricated a perovskite-silicon tandem solar cell without a hole transport layer (HTL) in the perovskite top cell. This innovative strategy, based on the co-deposition of copper(I) thiocyanate and perovskite in the top cell absorber, was intended at solving typical issues of HTLs in tandem devices.

Breakthrough coming? Iceland could get solar power from space in 2030

British startup plans to supply solar power from space to Icelanders by 2030, in what could be the world’s first demonstration of this novel renewable energy source.

The space solar power project, announced on Monday (Oct. 21), is a partnership between U.K.-based Space Solar, Reykjavik Energy and Icelandic sustainability initiative Transition Labs.

How Physicists Broke the Solar Efficiency Record

This solar breakthrough just changed everything.
Thanks to Opera for sponsoring this video. Click here https://opr.as/Opera-browser-DrBenMiles to upgrade your browser for FREE!

Last month, Oxford PV’s breakthrough solar cell broke the efficiency world record and is the world’s first commercially available Perovskite solar panel.
How does it work? And what does this mean for the future of solar?

Thanks you so much to the team for allowing me behind the scenes into their development facility and for the free Halloween costume.

#solar #efficiency #breakthrough #physics #perovskite.

Chapters.
0:00 The Solar Power Breakthrough.
3:25 Humanity’s Journey to Capture the Sun.
8:46 How We Broke the Limit of Solar Efficiency.
13:15 Building the World’s First Perovskite Solar Panel.
17:23 The Future of Solar.

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Mesoporous MoS₂ strategy boosts efficiency and stability of perovskite solar cells

The efficiency and performance of photovoltaics (PVs) have improved significantly over the past decades, which has led to an increase in the adoption of solar technologies. To further enhance the performance of solar cells, energy researchers worldwide have been devising and testing alternative design strategies, leveraging different materials and cell structures.

Roll out the PV: CSIRO opens flexible solar facility

Solar cells could be printed out like newspapers after Australia’s leading science organisation opened a $6.8 million facility dedicated to flexible solar technology.

The CSIRO launched its state-of-the-art Printed Photovoltaic Facility in south-east Melbourne on Wednesday, following more than 15 years of research into the renewable energy technology.

Researchers said printed, flexible photovoltaic cells could not only lower the cost of solar energy but could be used to deliver power in challenging areas such as space exploration, defence and disaster recovery.