Solar Cells Info

by Jason Mick (Blog), April 13, 2008
Source: DailyTech.com
http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=11459

While not very tasty, these balls are extra efficient
With gas prices going up, refining capacity stretched to its max, and the reality that fossil fuels will eventually be depleted settling in, interest in alternative energy solutions of various types is at an all time high.  Among these is renewed vigor in the solar power industry.  From building massive new plants to new ground breaking research, the rather old field of solar power, is adapting quickly to the latest tech. (more…)

Source: Printed Electronics World / April 16, 2008
http://www.idtechex.com/printedelectronicsworld/articles/electricity_from_sun_and_heat_printing_the_new_photovoltaics_00000892.asp

Solar cells are needed on everything from clothing to packaging, toys, spaceships, consumer goods, medical testers, skin patches and tools. Mostly, they must be thin and flexible, lightweight, environmental and low in cost – even disposable in many cases. (more…)

China Nuvo Solar Energy Announces Plans to Use Thin Film CIGS in Its Pilot Production Project
West Palm Beach, Fl, April 9, 2008
Source: China Nuo Solar Energy Inc. press release /BusinessWire
http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20080409005268&newsLang=en

China Nuvo Solar Energy, Inc. (the “Company” or “China Nuvo”) (OTCBB: CNUV) announced today that it will be developing a low-cost solar cell based on thin-film CIGS technology with its collaboration partner, Pioneer Materials, Inc. (“PMI”), at its pilot production facility in Chengdu, China. CIGS, which stands for copper indium gallium selenium, has achieved the highest efficiency for thin-film photovoltaics at 19.9%, which rivals the performance of crystalline based silicon solar cells. With thin-film manufacturing techniques, CIGS thin-film solar cells can be made with 1/100th of the materials used in crystalline based silicon solar cells. (more…)

Increasing Efficiencies For Thin Film Solar Cells: Different Approaches Researched By The US DOE

By Dr. Harry Zervos, IDTechEx /4 April 2008
Source. Photonics Online
http://www.photonicsonline.com/content/news/article.asp?DocID=%7BEEC11AEA-997C-4C5D-84CA-9BFDBAF936D5%7D&Bucket=Current+Headlines&VNETCOOKIE=NO

Recently, researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) announced that they have moved closer to creating a thin-film solar cell that can compete with the efficiency of the more common silicon-based solar cell. The Copper Indium Gallium Diselenide(CIGS) thin-film solar cell recently reached 19.9% efficiency in testing at the lab, setting a new world record, as the NREL revealed on March 24 2008. (more…)

Source: ScienceDaily, Apr. 10, 2008
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080410140451.htm

A new approach is able to create a dramatic improvement in cheap solar cells now being developed in laboratories. By using a popcorn-ball design — tiny kernels clumped into much larger porous spheres — researchers at the University of Washington are able to manipulate light and more than double the efficiency of converting solar energy to electricity. The findings were presented in New Orleans at the national meeting of the American Chemical Society April 10. (more…)

Source: SemiconductorToday.com / 19 March 2008
http://www.semiconductor-today.com/news_items/2008/MARCH/SUNOVIA_190308.htm

Sunovia Energy Technologies Inc of Sarasota, FL, USA and infrared sensor and imaging firm EPIR Technologies Inc of Bolingbrook, IL, USA say that they are collaborating with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich (ETH Zurich) on the further development of cadmium telluride (CdTe) solar cells.  The collaboration provides the firms with key experience and knowledge related to solar cell development and manufacturing, and should expedite product development efforts, specifically involving the development of CdTe thin-film solar cells including the use of flexible plastic substrates. (more…)

Horizontal Deployment of Thin-Film Technology for TFT LCDs – Annual Production Capacity on 1 GW Scale
Tokyo, Japan, Mar 27, 2008
Source:Sharp Corporation / press release
http://sharp-world.com/corporate/news/080327.html

Sharp Corporation has made a total capital investment of approximately 72 billion yen to build a thin-film solar cell plant in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture that is capable of boosting annual production up to a scale of 1 GW per year.  Production will begin by March 2010 with a 480 MW initial production capacity for solar cells. Combined with the 160 MW capacity of the Katsuragi Plant (Nara Prefecture), this will expand Sharp’s global total production capacity for thin-film solar cells to 1 GW in April 2010. (more…)

Source: NREL Press release / March 24, 2008
http://www.nrel.gov/news/press/2008/574.html

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory have moved closer to creating a thin-film solar cell that can compete with the efficiency of the more common silicon-based solar cell.  The copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) thin-film solar cell recently reached 19.9 percent efficiency, setting a new world record for this type of cell. Multicrystalline silicon-based solar cells have shown efficiencies as high as 20.3 percent. The energy conversion efficiency of a solar cell is the percentage of sunlight converted by the cell into electricity.
(more…)

University of Swansea working with metals giant Corus on photovoltaic solar cells that could be “painted” onto steel as it is manufactured
James Murray, BusinessGreen, 10 Mar 2008
Source: BusinessGreen.com
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/
2211621/welsh-boffins-investigate-sci

It might sound like something out of a science fiction film, but Welsh scientists claim to have developed a method for capturing solar energy using a new type of paint-like solar cells that could be applied to steel structures, raising the prospect of new buildings that generate usable energy from their external surfaces.

Researchers at the University of Swansea claim the breakthrough was made by an engineering doctorate student who was studying how sunlight degrades paint and found that it could prove possible to develop a type of paint that could exploit a new photovoltaic method of capturing solar energy.
(more…)

Yousuke Ogasawara, Nikkei Electronics, Mar 7, 2008
Source: TechOn
http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/english/NEWS_EN/20080307/148677/

Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) developed a tandem type dye-sensitized solar cell with an energy conversion efficiency of 11.0%. The new solar cell outperforms any existing solar cells, according to AIST.  A tandem type solar cell has a structure in which two types of dye-sensitized solar cells are attached to each other. To enhance the conversion efficiency, AIST formed a highly transparent TiO2 electrode and used it in the upper cell. (more…)