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Category: solar power

Over the past few decades, solar cells have become increasingly widespread, with a growing number of individuals and businesses worldwide now relying on solar energy to power their homes or operations. Energy engineers worldwide have thus been trying to identify materials that are promising for the development of photovoltaics, are eco-friendly and non-toxic, and can also be easily sourced and processed.

These include kesterite-based materials, such as Cu₂ZnSnS₄ (CZTS), a class of semiconducting materials with a that resembles that of the naturally occurring mineral kesterite. Kesterite could have various advantages over the conventional silicon-based photovoltaics that are most used today, including lower manufacturing costs, a less toxic composition and greater flexibility.

Despite their potential, kesterite solar cells developed to date attain significantly lower power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) than their silicon counterparts. This is in great part due to atomic-scale defects in kesterite-based materials that trap charge carriers and prompt non-radiative recombination, a process that causes energy losses and thus reduces the solar cells’ performance.

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A new study in Science shows that the incorporation of a synthetic molecule into the design enhances the energy efficiency and longevity of perovskite solar cells. The benefits of the molecule, known as CPMAC, were found through an international collaboration that included King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST).

CPMAC is an abbreviation for an ionic salt synthesized from buckminsterfullerene, a black solid made of known as C₆₀. Perovskite are typically made with C₆₀, which has contributed to record energy efficiency. While preferred, C₆₀ also limits the performance and stability of the solar cells, leading scientists to explore alternative materials.

“For over a decade, C₆₀ has been an integral component in the development of perovskite solar cells. However, at the perovskite/C₆₀ interface lead to mechanical degradation that compromises long-term solar cell stability. To address this limitation, we designed a C₆₀-derived ionic salt, CPMAC, to significantly enhance the stability of the perovskite solar cells,” explained Professor Osman Bakr, Executive Faculty of the KAUST Center of Excellence for Renewable Energy and Sustainable Technologies (CREST), who led the KAUST contributions to the research.

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If you haven’t heard of a tardigrade before, prepare to be wowed. These clumsy, eight-legged creatures, nicknamed water bears, are about half a millimeter long and can survive practically anything: freezing temperatures, near starvation, high pressure, radiation exposure, outer space and more. Researchers reporting in the journal Nano Letters took advantage of the tardigrade’s nearly indestructible nature and gave the critters tiny “tattoos” to test a microfabrication technique to build microscopic, biocompatible devices.

“Through this technology, we’re not just creating micro-tattoos on tardigrades—we’re extending this capability to various living organisms, including bacteria,” explains Ding Zhao, a co-author of the paper.

Microfabrication has revolutionized electronics and photonics, creating micro-and nanoscale devices ranging from microprocessors and solar cells to biosensors that detect food contamination or cancerous cells. But the technology could also advance medicine and , if researchers can adapt to make them compatible with the biological realm.

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University of Queensland researchers have set a world record for solar cell efficiency with eco-friendly perovskite technology. A team led by Professor Lianzhou Wang has unveiled a tin halide perovskite (THP) solar cell capable of converting sunlight to electricity at a certified record efficiency of 16.65%. The research is published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.

Working across UQ’s Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology and the School of Chemical Engineering, Professor Wang said the certified reading achieved by his lab was nearly one percentage point higher than the previous best for THP solar cells.

“It might not seem like much, but this is a giant leap in a field that is renowned for delicate and incremental progress,” Professor Wang said.

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As the world races to move away from fossil fuels, new research has uncovered an extraordinary and nearly untapped energy source hiding in plain sight— ocean currents. According to a landmark study by researchers at Florida Atlantic University (FAU), ocean currents can generate 2.5 times more power than wind farms. Even more stunning is their near-constant energy flow, making them one of the most reliable clean energy sources on Earth.

This isn’t a distant dream or a futuristic concept—it’s science-backed, data-verified, and happening now.

Ocean currents are massive, steady flows of water driven by a mix of wind, the Earth’s rotation, temperature gradients, and salinity differences. Unlike wind or solar energy, which vary with weather and daylight, ocean currents flow predictably and consistently year-round.

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Colloidal quantum dots (CQDs) are tiny semiconductor particles that are just a few nanometers in size, which are synthesized in a liquid solution (i.e., colloid). These single-crystal particles, created by breaking down bulk materials via chemical and physical processes, have proved to be promising for the development of photovoltaic (PV) technologies.

Quantum dot-based PVs could have various advantages, including a tunable bandgap, greater flexibility and solution processing. However, quantum dot-based developed so far have been found to have significant limitations, including lower efficiencies than conventional silicon-based cells and high manufacturing costs, due to the expensive processes required to synthesize conductive CQD films.

Researchers at Soochow University in China, the University of Electro-Communications in Japan and other institutes worldwide recently introduced a new method that could potentially help to improve the efficiencies of quantum-dot based photovoltaics, while also lowering their manufacturing costs. Their proposed approach, outlined in a paper published in Nature Energy, entails the engineering of lead sulfide (PbS) CQD inks used to print films for solar cells.

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As the demand for innovative materials continues to grow—particularly in response to today’s technological and environmental challenges—research into nanomaterials is emerging as a strategic field. Among these materials, quantum dots are attracting particular attention due to their unique properties and wide range of applications. A team of researchers from ULiège has recently made a significant contribution by proposing a more sustainable approach to the production of these nanostructures.

Quantum dots (QDs) are nanometer-sized semiconductor particles with unique optical and electronic properties. Their ability to absorb and emit light with high precision makes them ideal for use in , LEDs, medical imaging, and sensors.

In a recent study, researchers at ULiège developed the first intensified, scalable process to produce cadmium chalcogenide quantum dots (semiconducting compounds widely used in optoelectronics and nanotechnology) in water using a novel, biocompatible chalcogenide source (chemical elements such as sulfur, selenium, and tellurium).

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