Solar News

Swansea, China (SPX) Mar 16, 2023 Swansea University has established a low-cost and scalable carbon ink formulation capable of unlocking, for the first time, the potential for perovskite solar cells to be manufactured at scale. Using slot die coating in a roll-to-roll (R2R) process, academics from the SPECIFIC Innovation and Knowledge Centre at Swansea University have established a way to create “fully printable” perovskite phot

Geneva (AFP) March 16, 2023 The green technology industry could be worth several trillion dollars by 2030 but developing countries will miss out on the boom unless they jump in now, the UN said Thursday. From a roughly equal position three years ago, green technology exports from the most advanced countries are already racing ahead of developing nations, warned the United Nations’ trade and development agency, UNCTAD.

Berlin, Germany (SPX) Mar 17, 2023 Solar cells made from metal halide perovskites achieve high efficiencies and their production from liquid inks requires only a small amount of energy. A team led by Prof. Dr. Eva Unger at Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin is investigating the production process. At the X-ray source BESSY II, the group has analyzed the optimal composition of precursor inks for the production of high-quality FAPbI3 perovsk

Groningen, Netherlands (SPX) Mar 17, 2023 In organic solar cells, carbon-based polymers convert light into charges that are passed to an acceptor. This type of material has great potential, but to unlock this, a better understanding is needed of the way in which charges are produced and transported along the polymers. Scientists from the University of Groningen have now calculated how this happens by combining molecular dynamics simulat

Adelaide, Australia (SPX) Mar 21, 2023 The renewable energy sector is facing a quandary: how Australia will dispose of 80 million solar panels in an environmentally friendly way when they reach the end of their life. Paradoxically, one of the reasons people are installing solar photovoltaic (PV) panels in huge numbers is to help the environment, but the industry is now grappling with the anticipated waste generated by 100,000 t

Mainz, Germany (SPX) Mar 17, 2023 Whether in an e-car, cell phone, or cordless screwdriver, many devices used on a daily basis now use rechargeable batteries. However, the trend also has its downsides. For example, certain cell phones were banned from being carried on airplanes, or e-cars caught fire. Modern commercial lithium ion batteries are sensitive to mechanical stress. So-called “solid-state batteries” could provid

Kumamoto, Japan (SPX) Mar 21, 2023 Two-dimensional monolayer nanosheets made from layered perovskite have many desirable properties. However, it has been difficult to create them with tunable bandgaps in the visible region without adding oxygen defects. Recently, researchers from Japan were able to successfully develop chemically stable nanosheets from perovskite oxynitrides which had controllable bandgaps. These nanosheets have

Hefei, China (SPX) Mar 21, 2023 A research team led by Prof. XU Jixian from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) designed and fashioned a novel porous insulator contact (PIC) for perovskite solar cells. The PIC ameliorated the non-radiative charge recombination effect and the corresponding solar cell achieved an efficiency of up to 25.5%. The result was published in

London (AFP) March 30, 2023 Britain on Thursday warned against the threat of protectionism as it slammed the United States for leading a “distortive” green energy subsidy race. Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt’s remarks came as his government updated its energy security plan to ramp up renewable and nuclear power, but ran into criticism from political opponents and environmentalists. The Conservative government led by

Fukuoka, Japan (SPX) Mar 29, 2023 Solid oxide fuel cells, or SOFC, are a type of electrochemical device that generates electricity using hydrogen as fuel, with the only ‘waste’ product being water. Naturally, as we strive to reduce our carbon output and mitigate the casualties of the climate crisis, both business and academia have taken major interest in the development of SOFCs. In what can potentially accelerate the deve

Brussels (AFP) March 30, 2023 The European Union reached a deal Thursday to almost double the share of renewables in the 27-nation bloc’s energy consumption by 2030 amid efforts to become carbon neutral and ditch Russian fossil fuels. The provisional political agreement, which was reached after nightlong negotiations between the EU parliament and states, seeks to raise the share of renewable energy to 42.5 percent, from

Montreal (AFP) March 30, 2023 As the world accelerates toward emissions-free driving, Canada is making a big push into batteries for electric vehicles – touting tax incentives, bountiful critical minerals and clean energy to attract multinationals. Its efforts appear to be paying off with companies such as Volkswagen and Stellantis opening plants and more than Can$18 billion (US$13 billion) in investment attracted to th

Karlsruhe, Germany (SPX) Mar 31, 2023 Recovering up to 70 percent of lithium from battery waste without corrosive chemicals, high temperatures, and prior sorting of materials being required: This is achieved by a recycling method developed by Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). The method combines mechanical processes with chemical reactions and enables inexpensive, energy-efficient, and environmentally compatible recycling of

Munich, Germany (SPX) Mar 27, 2023 Photosynthesis is the motor of all life on Earth. Complex processes are required for the sunlight-powered conversion of carbon dioxide and water to energy-rich sugar and oxygen. These processes are driven by two protein complexes, photosystems I and II. In photosystem I, sunlight is used with an efficiency of almost 100%. Here a complex network of 288 chlorophylls plays the decisive role. A team