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Sunshine is free, so can photovoltaics be cheap?

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Here’s how to make a solar cell from silicon: take one solid block of doped silicon, saw it into thin wafers, layer said semiconductors beneath a panel of transparent glass, connect them to a metal electrode that can channel away the electrons knocked loose by incoming photons and turn [...]

Solar Energy Harvesting Using 1 Percent of Current Materials

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A study in the journal Nature Materials details the creation of a nanowire-based technology that absorbs solar energy at comparable levels to currently available systems while using only 1 percent of the silicon material needed to capture photons.
Imagine a world where sunlight can be captured to produce electricity anywhere, [...]

Solar glazing chases sun from dawn until dusk

In the age of green energy we are seeing interesting new developments that marry building materials with the capacity to harness renewable power sources. Building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) or concentrating PV technologies aren’t new, but the ability to concentrate and maximize the capture of energy by tracking sunlight from dawn [...]

Recharging Your Cellphone, Mother Nature’s Way

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A NEW solar cell that imitates Mother Nature’s way of converting sunlight to energy is making its debut in a variety of consumer products.
The technology uses a photosensitive dye to start its energy production, much the way leaves use chlorophyll to begin photosynthesis.
The dye-sensitized cells will be used [...]

Researchers Make Breakthrough in Transparent Spray-On Solar

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New Energy Technologies–who introduced us to harvesting energy from roadways–has developed transparent solar cells which can be sprayed onto any glass surface.
New Energy Technologies–who introduced us to harvesting energy from roadways–has developed transparent solar cells which can be sprayed onto any glass surface.
How? They successfully removed all metals from the solar cell. A [...]