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Researchers in the CEST group have published a study demonstrating the effectiveness of machine learning methods to identify suitable perovskite solar cell materials. Perovskite solar cells are a novel technology gathering a lot of interest due to their high efficiency and potential for radically lower manufacturing costs when compared to the traditional silicon-based solar cells.

Despite their promising qualities, the commercialization of perovskite solar cells has been held back by their fast degradation under environmental stresses, such as heat and moisture. They also contain toxic substances that can negatively impact the environment. The search for new perovskite materials that do not have these problems is ongoing, but the established experimental and computational research methods have not been able to handle the high number of material candidates that need to be tried and tested.

CEST members Jarno Laakso and Patrick Rinke, with collaborators from University of Turku and China, developed new machine learning-based methodology for rapidly predicting perovskite properties. This new approach accelerates computations and can be used to study perovskite alloys. These alloy materials contain many candidates for improved solar cell materials, but studying them has been difficult with conventional computational methods.

Over the past few decades, engineers and material scientists have created increasingly advanced and efficient solar technologies. Some of these technologies are based on photovoltaics with a so-called heterojunction structure, which entails the integration of two materials with distinct optoelectronic properties.

Researchers at Technische Universität Dresden have recently realized a different type of solar cells, referred to as phase heterojunction (PHJ) solar cells. These cells, introduced in a paper published in Nature Energy, were fabricated using two polymorphs (i.e., structural forms) of the same material, the perovskite CsPbI₃, instead of two entirely different semiconductors.

“The realization of a PHJ requires the ability to fabricate two different phases of the same perovskite composition on top of each other,” Yana Vaynzof, lead author of the paper, told TechXplore. “While the fabrication of CsPbI₃ perovskite by solution-processing is well established in the literature, we needed to develop a method to deposit a perovskite without dissolving the underlying layer, so we decided to use thermal evaporation for this purpose.”

Fungal mycelium skins can be used as substrates for electronic devices, physicists and materials sci.

The facility will produce one car a week, to begin with.

Dutch company Lightyear, which has spent the last six years developing technologies to make the world’s first solar-powered electric vehicle has now entered a very important phase of its lifetime. Its first model, Lightyear 0 has now entered production, a company press release said.

Continue reading “The world’s first solar electric car Lightyear 0 now enters production” »

Tesla on Thursday delivered its first electric semitrailer truck to PepsiCo, as the electric vehicle maker expands its offerings beyond passenger cars.

Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, drove a Semi to the delivery event, which was held at a factory near Reno, Nevada.

Continue reading “Tesla just delivered its first all-electric Semi truck to PepsiCo and said it can cover up to 500 miles on a single charge” »

The partnership aims at building infrastructures, such as landing pads, habitats, and roads on the lunar surface.

In a quest to find practical solutions to build sustainable structures on the moon, NASA has furthered its partnership with ICON, a construction technologies company based in Austin, Texas. The firm is known for building the first-ever habitable 3D-printed home in the United States in 2018.

Continue reading “NASA awards Texas company to develop structures on the Moon” »

The solution to our carbon problem is floating in the oceans.

Phytoplankton are microscopic organisms (can be bacteria, algae, or plants) that perform photosynthesis in oceans and eliminate excess carbon dioxide from Earth’s atmosphere. They sequester about 40 percent of the total carbon produced every year globally and, therefore, also play a major role in mitigating global warming.

Continue reading “Engineered nanoparticles can help phytoplankton kidnap the excess CO2 on Earth” »

Researchers at RMIT University have found an innovative way to rapidly remove hazardous microplastics from water using magnets.

Lead researcher Professor Nicky Eshtiaghi said existing methods could take days to remove microplastics from water, while their cheap and sustainable invention achieves better results in just one hour.

The team says they have developed adsorbents, in the form of a powder, that remove microplastics 1,000 times smaller than those currently detectable by existing wastewater treatment plants.

It’ll be 100 percent electric by 2028.