Emanuel Sachs, a professor of mechanical engineering at MIT, has found a way to improve the efficiency of a type of silicon solar cells while keeping manufacturing costs about the same.

1366 Technologies, founded in part by Sachs, claims that it has improved the efficiency of its new multicrystalline silicon solar cells by 27 percent, putting them on par with today’s standard cells made from single-crystal silicon. Read more »

Scientists at England’s Swansea University are working to develop a paint which can be quickly applied to large steels sheets to generate power from the sun beaming down on them.

This paint would be suited to warehouses and other buildings that are commonly covered with steel sheets.  It is based on dye-sensitised solar cells. Although less efficient than conventional solar cells, dye-based cells are cheaper as they don’t require solicon and can be applied as a liquid paste.

The solar cells are built up in several layers. First is a layer of regular paint directly on the steel. Then, the electrolyte and dye layers are applied, and the cell is finished off with a clear protective film to guard against the elements.

Researchers expect a commercial cell within two and a half years. Although these cells probably won’t make a huge impact, every little bit helps with the switch to renewable energy.

Massachussetts company Konarka Technologies has developed a way to to manufacture solar cells using inkjet printing.

The company says that they have made the process of fabricating solar panels much easier and, more importantly, cheaper because they don’t require a clean room.

Inkjet printing will also allow them to produce solar cells with multiple colors and patterns. This could help them stand out less on the roof of a house, for example.

This development could lead to cost savings passed down to the consumer as well as new uses for solar power. We wonder, though, if Konarka will pull an HP and charge an arm and a leg for the ink cartridges for their printers.

Polymer solar cells that are used today to convert sunlight to electricity degrade over time because of ultraviolet light. Scientists at UCLA have found a solution to that problem.

They suggested coating solar cells with a material that converts photons of ultraviolet light into ones of visible light. Such a material would increase the efficiency of the solar cells and reduce damage to them from sunlight, making them last longer.

The material could be made of a liquid, a gel, nanoparticles, or a solid, the researchers claim. They have already performed some experiments which have confirmed their ideas. A patent has, of course, already been filed.

This is another great step toward renewable energy. With innovations like this we can finally start lowering our dependence on fossil fuels and switch to better sources of energy.

Penn State scientists have created a new type of solar cell that mimics photosynthesis to produce hydrogen gas directly from water.

Unfortunately, the prototype is inefficient, able to use only about 1% of the light energy falling on it for splitting water into oxygen and hydrogen gases. The scientists believe that with some optimization they could get that efficiency up to 10%.

Although still in its infancy, this new technology could eventually make it into cars. That would mean that you would be able to simply pour some water into your H₂-powered vehicle to keep it going.

These solar cells would eliminate the need to build new hydrogen gas stations because they could completely be contained inside a car. This could ease the transition to alternative-fuel vehicles and help us get rid of our dependence on oil.