Solar Technology & PV R&D News

University of New Mexico and Air Force Research Laboratory scientists have teamed up to prolong the life of solar modules by harnessing the Atom Ant-like strength of carbon nanotubes.

Research from Canada has revealed liquid-like lineshape dynamics in cesium-lead iodide perovskite nanocrystals. The findings could be used to produce cheaper and more efficient perovskite cells, researchers claim.

A technique based on optical imaging has been used by an international research team to illuminate strains in lead halide perovskite solar cells without harming them. The scientists claim the approach helped them discover misorientation between microscopic perovskite crystals was the main cause of the strains.

This has been a breakthrough year for non-battery storage, with key advances in pumped hydro, power-to-gas, and thermal storage technologies. Many industry players are moving beyond pilot projects to contracted projects, which could lead to increased scale and lower costs.

Many of the technologies we come across everyday seem to be either perfect or nearing perfection. However, there is always scope for improvement and this is what the Dutch startup Lightyear follows. The company manufactures a car that comes equipped with a solar panel that helps generate electricity and improve the vehicle’s range. While the solar panel itself is not a new innovation, the company has announced of notably improving the aerodynamics of its car.

Scientific instrument made at McGill reveals liquid-like properties of a solid substance.

A team of scientists led by the University of Glasgow has discovered a more efficient method of splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen using electricity which it says could almost double the amount of hydrogen produced per millivolt.

The government of the Philippines will spend $500 million on solar-powered water supply and desalination in remote areas of Mindanao, the second-largest island in the archipelago. Elsewhere, a Finnish study has suggested drought-hit Iran could benefit from renewable-powered desalination.

Where seasonal storage is paramount, hydrogen comes into play. Under-the-radar solar market Sweden has presented its hydrogen projects and technological solutions to overcome the country’s natural solar barriers.

The uptake of solar power around the world is certainly a good thing for the planet, but that doesn’t mean it is without environmental consequence either. Some solar panel components are more easily recycled than others, and scientists in Australia may have just figured out how to repurpose one of the trickiest and most valuable: the silicon that serves as its semiconductor.

The best of rigid and flexible solar panels combine in SunUp, a product for outdoor adventurers invented by Brunel University design graduate Bradley Brister.

A U.S. research team has used protein bacteriorhodopsin to improve the efficiency of what it called ‘bioperovskite’ solar cells. The scientists used Förster Resonance Energy Transfer to predict the strength of long-range excitonic transport between the perovskite and protein layers.

Research from the United States has demonstrated how PV technology can be used to kill cancer cells. Although still at an embryonic stage, the findings of the study and initial test results suggest solar power could be an effective tool in relation to light-activated fluorescent dyes for disease diagnosis, image-guided surgery and site-specific tumor treatment.

A study has estimated the cost of PV project soiling may increase from €3-5 billion last year to €4-7 billion by 2023 due to more extensive deployment in high insolation and soiling-affected regions, such as China and India. The authors of the paper outlined the potential of soiling mitigation technologies while stressing more R&D is needed to reduce costs and for the adoption of such measures on a larger scale.

The four-year-old Hangzhou-based business says it already has a 20 MW perovskite module pilot line and is working on a mass production facility in the city of Quzhou.