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New Method for Selective Solar Absorbers that Display High-Performance and Durability

A team of researchers led by Yuan Yang, assistant professor of materials science and engineering at Columbia Engineering, together with colleagues at the Department of Chemistry at Columbia University, and Stanford University have created a new, scalable, and low-cost “dip and dry” technique for fabricating a very efficient selective solar absorber (SSA) that can harness and convert sunlight to heat for use in a broad range of energy-related applications, from heating water and producing steam to residential heating.

29 Aug 2017

New Strategies to Further Enhance Perovskite Solar Cell Performance

Photovoltaic conversion is considered to be the ultimate solution to the mankind's constantly growing demand for energy, yet the standard silicon-based solar cells are costly to produce, and the production itself deals with intensive energy consumption.

29 Aug 2017

Researchers Test Optimal Configurations for Vertical Axis Wind Turbines to Enable Cheaper Electricity for Cities

The U.S. Department of Energy has made a prediction that by the year 2030, wind energy could provide 20% of electricity in the U.S. This has driven researchers from the University of Utah’s Department of Mechanical Engineering to examine the performance capabilities and financial advantages of vertical axis wind turbines (VAWTs) in suburban and urban areas.

7 Aug 2017

Researchers Develop Long Lasting, Energy Density Battery

The newest innovation at The City College of New York-based CUNY Energy Institute is a new generation of manganese dioxide-zinc batteries with unparalleled cycle life and energy density. The discovery has made the regular household battery ideal for large grid storage applications.

2 Aug 2017

New Optimization Model Could Provide Higher Solar-Power Integration in Residential Photovoltaic Systems

It has been established that solar power is a source of mainstream power generation throughout the world. A number of photovoltaic (PV) systems have been installed in residential homes at or near the distribution site.

26 Jul 2017

Researchers Study Impact of Ethanol-to-Gasoline Switch in São Paulo, Brazil

A new study by a Northwestern University Chemist, a National University of Singapore economist and two University of São Paulo physicists revealed that the concentration of ultrafine particles less than 50 nm in diameter increased by one-third in the air of São Paulo, Brazil.

19 Jul 2017

Nanomaterial catalyst has potential to improve solar energy storage

Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) in Switzerland have developed a new material that acts as a catalyst within the electrolyser, potentially making such devices cheaper and more efficient in the future.

18 Jul 2017

Rooftop Concentrating Photovoltaics Perform Better than Silicon in Outdoor Testing Study

In a head-to-head competition, a concentrating photovoltaic system with embedded microtracking can produce more than 50% extra energy daily than standard silicon solar cells, according to a team of Engineers who field tested a prototype unit over two sunny days in Fall last year.

18 Jul 2017

Researchers Build Solar Cell Capable of Capturing Almost All Energy of Solar Spectrum

Researchers have designed and created a prototype for a new solar cell that incorporates many cells stacked into a single device capable of trapping almost all of the energy in the solar spectrum.

12 Jul 2017

Meniscus-Assisted Method to Create Very Efficient Perovskite PV Films

A new low-temperature solution printing method allows fabrication of high-efficiency perovskite solar cells with large crystals projected to reduce current-robbing grain boundaries. The meniscus-assisted solution printing (MASP) method increases power conversion efficiencies to approximately 20% by manipulating crystal size and orientation.

10 Jul 2017