Solaris® Silicone Encapsulation Rubber for DIY Solar Panels. Scientists Develop Affordable Solar Panels That Work In The Dark. It's about damn time, don't you think? Scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory announced Wednesday that they have been able to confirm a new high-efficiency solar cell design that utilizes nearly the entire solar spectrum. Translation: They figured out a way to make solar panels generate electricity in the dark. CleanTechnica says , In earlier trials, the researchers used different alloys that achieved full spectrum responses but involved very high production costs. The advantage of gallium arsenide nitride is that it is very similar to a conventional semiconductor, gallium arsenide, and it can be produced with a commonly used fabrication method involving chemical vapor deposition. The Lawrence Berkeley breakthrough represents just one path to increasing the efficiency and lowering the cost of solar cells.
In the meantime, you could just turn any metal surface into solar panels with photovoltaic spray paint . [Photo: Norby /Flickr] Clean, cheap hydrogen production from water using cobalt catalyst. For years, proponents of the hydrogen economy have argued that hydrogen will replace traditional hydrocarbon fuels for transportation purposes. But, so far, a lack of new, inexpensive methods for hydrogen production and storage has impeded this goal. Over the last several years, an MIT professor has been pushing cobalt catalysts as a cheap replacement for the expensive metals typically used to split water.
A paper in this week's Proceedings of the National Academies of Science describes the latest progress here: integrating the cobalt catalyst with a silicon solar cell to create a device that uses the sun to split water. Hydrogen is a desirable fuel, because when it is burned or otherwise consumed (as in a fuel cell), it only produces water, although combustion results in small amounts of nitrogen oxides as by-products. Bill Gross: Great ideas for finding new energy. How to Build a DIY Portable Solar Charging System! 5 years ago, it was a lot harder to build your own solar-charging systems but now there are so much more resources plus price of solar systems have dropped quite a bit.
If you own a home and you have some space in your backyard (or roof) for solar panels, there’s absolutely no reason why you aren’t powering some of your home electronics via the power of the sun (unless you live in Alaska and it’s no-sun season). Here’s a great example of a DIY portable solar charging system built completely from scratch with most parts bought on eBay, a portable solar charging system with wheels and you can plug-in anything. You’ve probably found this Instructable to gather ideas about making a portable solar power supply yourself. I’ve always been interested in electronics with this project being my latest idea to come wandering out of my head, why not make a portable box on wheels, that I can plug basically anything into, thats powered by the sun?
Record efficiency of 18.7 percent for flexible CIGS solar cells on plastics. Public release date: 19-May-2011 [ Print | E-mail Share ] [ Close Window ] Contact: Professor Dr. Ayodhya N. Tiwariayodhya.tiwari@empa.ch 41-587-654-130Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (EMPA) It's all about the money. One major advantage of flexible high-performance CIGS solar cells is the potential to lower manufacturing costs through roll-to-roll processing while at the same time offering a much higher efficiency than the ones currently on the market.
At the forefront of efficiency improvements In recent years, thin film photovoltaic technology based on glass substrates has gained sufficient maturity towards industrial production; flexible CIGS technology is, however, still an emerging field. Record efficiencies of up to 17.5% on steel foils covered with impurity diffusion barriers were so far achieved with CIGS growth processes at temperatures exceeding 550°C.
Scaling up production of flexible CIGS solar cells [ Print | E-mail AAAS and EurekAlert! Solar Forest Keeps Cars Cool And Juiced. Solar power without solar cells: A hidden magnetic effect of light could make it possible. (PhysOrg.com) -- A dramatic and surprising magnetic effect of light discovered by University of Michigan researchers could lead to solar power without traditional semiconductor-based solar cells. The researchers found a way to make an “optical battery,” said Stephen Rand, a professor in the departments of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Physics and Applied Physics.
In the process, they overturned a century-old tenet of physics. “You could stare at the equations of motion all day and you will not see this possibility. We’ve all been taught that this doesn’t happen,” said Rand, an author of a paper on the work published in the Journal of Applied Physics. “It’s a very odd interaction. That’s why it’s been overlooked for more than 100 years.” Light has electric and magnetic components. “This could lead to a new kind of solar cell without semiconductors and without absorption to produce charge separation,” Rand said. Debut of the first practical 'artificial leaf'
Public release date: 27-Mar-2011 [ Print | E-mail Share ] [ Close Window ] Contact: Michael Bernstein m_bernstein@acs.org 714-765-2012 (Meeting, March 27-31) 202-872-6042 (Before March 27) Michael Woods m_woods@acs.org 714-765-2012 (Meeting, March 27-31) 202-872-6293 (Before March 27) American Chemical Society ANAHEIM, March 27, 2011 — Scientists today claimed one of the milestones in the drive for sustainable energy — development of the first practical artificial leaf. "A practical artificial leaf has been one of the Holy Grails of science for decades," said Daniel Nocera, Ph.D., who led the research team. The device bears no resemblance to Mother Nature's counterparts on oaks, maples and other green plants, which scientists have used as the model for their efforts to develop this new genre of solar cells.
The hydrogen and oxygen gases would be stored in a fuel cell, which uses those two materials to produce electricity, located either on top of the house or beside it. [ Print | E-mail. Very Efficient Photocatalyst. News Release A little disorder goes a long way, especially when it comes to harnessing the sun’s energy. Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) jumbled the atomic structure of the surface layer of titanium dioxide nanocrystals, creating a catalyst that is both long lasting and effective in collecting solar energy to help extract hydrogen from water.
A nanoscale look at a photocatalyst that is both durable and very efficient. This high-resolution transmission electron microscope image of a titanium dioxide nanocrystal after hydrogenation reveals engineered disorder on the crystal's surface, a change that enables the photocatalyst to absorb infrared light. Their photocatalyst, which accelerates light-driven chemical reactions, is the first to combine durability and efficient solar energy absorption, making it a contender for use in several clean-energy technologies. The Berkeley Lab scientists tried a new approach.