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Solar energy: Charged for the future
September 11, 2006Once regarded as costly and impractical, solar technology is now poised to play a larger role in the future, thanks to new developments that could result in lower costs and improved efficiency. Potential applications include cell phones, computers, automobiles, homes and office buildings. The American Chemical Society will address the progress and challenge of this technology during a first of its kind symposium, "Science and Technology of Next Generation Photovoltaics," from Sunday, Sept. 10, through Tuesday, Sept. 12, in San Francisco during the Society's 232nd national meeting. All papers in this symposium, which begins at 8:30 a.m. on Sunday, will be presented at the San Francisco Marriott, Salon C2.
Here are a few highlights of research toward improving the efficiency of solar cells:
"Plastic" solar cells show gains in performance - Nobel Prize winner Alan J. Heeger, Ph.D., and colleagues at the University of California, Santa Barbara, say that new developments in "plastic" solar cells, particularly chemical modifications to titanium oxide layers, could provide efficiencies of up to 15 percent in the future. He already has developed plastic solar cells with efficiencies between 5 percent and 6 percent, considered among the highest to date for this type of solar cell. These developments could pave the way for wider use of plastic solar cells, a type of conducting polymer, which are increasingly seen as a low cost, efficient and long-lasting source of solar energy. Heeger, a professor at the University, shared the 2000 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his contributions toward the discovery of plastics that conduct electricity. His presentation will be delivered by study co-author and University colleague Kwanghee Lee, Ph.D. (PMSE 020, Sunday, Sept. 10, 8:35 a.m.)
Ultrathin, dye-sensitized solar cells called most efficient to date - Researchers in Switzerland have developed dye-sensitized solar cells that have reached the highest efficiencies to date among a new generation of thin film photovoltaic devices that show promise as a low-cost energy source. The new cells, composed of an ultrathin film of nano-sized semiconductor crystals such as titanium dioxide, have been shown in laboratory studies to produce efficiencies of 11 percent, whereas most new solar cells have efficiencies between 4 percent and 5 percent, according to Michael Graetzel, Ph.D., a chemist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne. These cells, which can be engineered into inexpensive, flexible sheets, could be used as coatings on glass windows to supply electric power to homes and businesses or as coatings on tents to supply power for soldiers in the field. The cells could be used in consumer applications within two to three years, the researcher says. (PMSE 174, Tuesday, Sept. 12, 8:30 a.m.)
Carbon nanotubes could boost efficiency of solar cells - Researchers at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana say they have found a new and promising way to boost the efficiency of solar cells. In preliminary studies, carbon nanotubes that were engineered into the architecture of semiconductor solar cells (composed of cadmium sulfide, zinc oxide and titanium dioxide) resulted in a doubling of the cells' photoconversion efficiencies (converting light into energy). In some cases, the efficiency of solar cells jumped from 5 percent to 10 percent in the presence of carbon nanotubes, according to Prashant Kamat, Ph.D., a professor of chemistry at the University. Carbon nanotubes also could be added to other types of solar cells, such as dye-sensitized solar cells and organic solar cells based on conducting polymers, to create similar or even stronger efficiency boosts, he says.
American Chemical Society
Ultrathin, dye-sensitized solar cells called most efficient to date - Researchers in Switzerland have developed dye-sensitized solar cells that have reached the highest efficiencies to date among a new generation of thin film photovoltaic devices that show promise as a low-cost energy source. The new cells, composed of an ultrathin film of nano-sized semiconductor crystals such as titanium dioxide, have been shown in laboratory studies to produce efficiencies of 11 percent, whereas most new solar cells have efficiencies between 4 percent and 5 percent, according to Michael Graetzel, Ph.D., a chemist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne. These cells, which can be engineered into inexpensive, flexible sheets, could be used as coatings on glass windows to supply electric power to homes and businesses or as coatings on tents to supply power for soldiers in the field. The cells could be used in consumer applications within two to three years, the researcher says. (PMSE 174, Tuesday, Sept. 12, 8:30 a.m.)
Carbon nanotubes could boost efficiency of solar cells - Researchers at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana say they have found a new and promising way to boost the efficiency of solar cells. In preliminary studies, carbon nanotubes that were engineered into the architecture of semiconductor solar cells (composed of cadmium sulfide, zinc oxide and titanium dioxide) resulted in a doubling of the cells' photoconversion efficiencies (converting light into energy). In some cases, the efficiency of solar cells jumped from 5 percent to 10 percent in the presence of carbon nanotubes, according to Prashant Kamat, Ph.D., a professor of chemistry at the University. Carbon nanotubes also could be added to other types of solar cells, such as dye-sensitized solar cells and organic solar cells based on conducting polymers, to create similar or even stronger efficiency boosts, he says.
American Chemical Society
Solar Energy Current Events and Solar Energy News RSSIs global warming unstoppable?
In a provocative new study, a University of Utah scientist argues that rising carbon dioxide emissions - the major cause of global warming - cannot be stabilized unless the world's economy collapses or society builds the equivalent of one new nuclear power plant each day.
How green is your house?
Preliminary results from 1500 respondents show that those who own their own home are more likely to separate their rubbish (83 per cent) than those in rented accommodation (59 per cent), whilst less than one in a hundred households have solar water heating (0.5 per cent) or solar energy panels (0.5 per cent). Initial findings also show that switching off the lights in unused rooms (82 per cent) and not leaving the television on standby (67 per cent) are significantly more popular than taking fewer flights (16 per cent), car sharing (15 per cent) and not buying items because they have too much packaging (8 per cent).
UT Knoxville and ORNL researchers turn algae into high-temperature hydrogen source
In the quest to make hydrogen as a clean alternative fuel source, researchers have been stymied about how to create usable hydrogen that is clean and sustainable without relying on an intensive, high-energy process that outweighs the benefits of not using petroleum to power vehicles.
Chemists describe solar energy progress and challenges, including the 'artificial leaf'
Scientists are making progress toward development of an "artificial leaf" that mimics a real leaf's chemical magic with photosynthesis - but instead converts sunlight and water into a liquid fuel such as methanol for cars and trucks.
Toward home-brewed electricity with 'personalized solar energy'
New scientific discoveries are moving society toward the era of "personalized solar energy," in which the focus of electricity production shifts from huge central generating stations to individuals in their own homes and communities.
Berkeley Researchers Find New Route to Nano Self-Assembly
If the promise of nanotechnology is to be fulfilled, nanoparticles will have to be able to make something of themselves. An important advance towards this goal has been achieved by researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) who have found a simple and yet powerfully robust way to induce nanoparticles to assemble themselves into complex arrays.
NC State Develops Material That Could Boost Data Storage, Save Energy
North Carolina State University engineers have created a new material that would allow a fingernail-size computer chip to store the equivalent of 20 high-definition DVDs or 250 million pages of text, far exceeding the storage capacities of today's computer memory systems.
Shifting the world to 100 percent clean, renewable energy as early as 2030 -- here are the numbers
Most of the technology needed to shift the world from fossil fuel to clean, renewable energy already exists. Implementing that technology requires overcoming obstacles in planning and politics, but doing so could result in a 30 percent decrease in global power demand.
Solar Cycle Driven by More than Sunspots; Sun Also Bombards Earth with High-Speed Streams of Wind
Challenging conventional wisdom, new research finds that the number of sunspots provides an incomplete measure of changes in the Sun's impact on Earth over the course of the 11-year solar cycle.
Gold Solution for Enhancing Nanocrystal Electrical Conductance
In a development that holds much promise for the future of solar cells made from nanocrystals, and the use of solar energy to produce clean and renewable liquid transportation fuels, researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have reported a technique by which the electrical conductivity of nanorod crystals of the semiconductor cadmium-selenide was increased 100,000 times.
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