Nov

15

Energy Gathering Antennas Reach Further Into the Light Spectrum

November 15, 2011 | Leave a Comment

A solar panel composed of nano-antennas instead of semiconductors, made by adapting classic metallic antennas to absorb light waves at optical frequencies, has been announced by Tel Aviv University’s Department of Physical Electronics from its innovative new Renewable Energy Center. We have a prior work to consider that harvests the infrared from nearly four years [...]

Nov

10

Absorbing All the Light and its Energy

November 10, 2011 | Leave a Comment

NASA engineers have developed a super black material that absorbs light across multiple wavelength bands.  The material absorbs on average more than 99 percent of the ultraviolet, visible, infrared, and far-infrared light that hits it — a development that promises to open new frontiers in space technology.  It also has implication for those seeking to [...]

Nov

7

Hybrid Design Comes to Power Plants

November 7, 2011 | 1 Comment

Prof. Avi Kribus of Tel Aviv University’s School of Mechanical Engineering and its innovative new Renewable Energy Center is applying the term “hybrid” to power plants. Prof. Kribus has developed a new technology that combines the use of conventional fuel with the lower pressures and temperatures of steam produced by solar thermal power, allowing plants [...]

Nov

3

Close to the Maximum Solar Collector

November 3, 2011 | 3 Comments

Koray Aydin, a new assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the McCormick School at Northwestern University, has developed a new material that absorbs a wide range of wavelengths and could lead to more efficient and less expensive solar technology. The paper published in Nature Communications entitled, ‘Broadband Polarization-Independent Resonant Light Absorption Using [...]

Oct

7

Fuel From The Air a Step Closer

October 7, 2011 | Leave a Comment

University of Illinois chemical and biological engineering professor Paul Kenis and his research group joined with researchers at Dioxide Materials, a startup company, have found a catalyst that improves artificial photosynthesis.  Artificial photosynthesis is the process of converting atmospheric carbon dioxide gas into useful carbon freed of the oxygen to make carbon-based chemicals, particularly fuel [...]

Sep

19

Quantum Dots for Photovoltaic Cells Get Better

September 19, 2011 | Leave a Comment

Researchers from the University of Toronto (U of T), the King Abdullah University of Science & Technology (KAUST) and Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) are reporting a the most efficient quantum dot assembly technique of solar cells in the latest issue of Nature Materials.  In the paper entitled “Collodial-quantum-dot photovoltaics using atomic-ligand passivation,” the researchers [...]

Sep

6

The Best Thermal Solar Panel Might Be the Cheapest

September 6, 2011 | 1 Comment

The MSRP is $2749.00 Canadian.  One panel per 1000 square feet, more north than Maine’s northern tip.  The basic collector is made using recycled soda pop cans. Amazing.  This thermal panel works astonishingly well.  Note – don’t test the thermal conductivity of an aluminum can with a heat source that can burn skin – the [...]

Aug

31

Solar Power Water Splitting Catalyst Found

August 31, 2011 | Leave a Comment

A team of scientists from the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville has determined that an alloy formed by a 2 percent substitution of antimony in gallium nitride has the right electrical properties to enable solar light energy to split water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen.  The technical description is called the photoelectrochemical [...]

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