Toshiba claims 8.4% efficiency for transparent cuprous oxide solar cell
The record efficiency was achieved by engineering the cell with reduced copper(II) oxide (CuO) and copper (Cu) impurities in the thin-film deposition. It showed an open-circuit voltage of 1.13 V, a short-circuit current of 10.63 mA/cm2, and a fill factor of 0.696.
MIT and Google develop solar cell simulator
The differential physics-based software simulates how the change in a given input can change the cell’s power output, potentially paving the way for faster improvements in PV efficiency.
Alabama students study outdoors in off-grid solar pods
In a partnership with startup SolarFi, the University of Alabama has deployed outdoor solar-powered study “pods”.
Autonomous robot for concentrated solar power installation and maintenance
Heliogen announced the roll-out of its robots to install and clean its CSP plants.
Icephobic surfaces for ice, snow shedding in utility scale solar
Developed by U.S. researchers, the proposed coating solution is claimed to effectively melt ice and snow with temperatures of up to -35 degrees Celsius. It was fabricated by using medium-chain triglyceride oil to plasticize two common industrial polymer polyvinyl chlorides and tested at a pilot facility in Alaska.
NASA to test solar-powered propulsion for asteroid defense
The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission will employ roll-out solar arrays and an electric propulsion system to redirect Earthbound asteroids.
U.S. decarbonization goals hinge on scaling up heterojunction cell tech
HJT technology could fill an innovation gap in the residential and commercial rooftop PV market, and boost U.S. solar leadership through domestic manufacturing of cells and modules.
Novel solar cell architecture to reduce silver costs, improve voltage
Developed by a U.S.-based start-up, the new manufacturing process is claimed to reduce silver consumption and improve solar module performance by up to 3 W. It consists of connecting sub-cells in series within a single cell in order to increase the device voltage and without requiring cells to be physically broken and rewired.
A promising new design for shingled solar modules
Research finds that the energy yield of a novel approach could almost double that of standard shingled cell interconnection under random shading conditions.
How PV performs close to radio, TV antennas
Researchers in Kenya have analyzed the performance of an off-grid PV system located near an isotropic antenna as an emitting source.
