silicon, Tag

The trend toward integrating solar into homes and buildings seems to be taking off. First Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveiled his rooftop solar shingles that are invisible when viewed from the street. Now, researchers at the University...

Striking another blow to the oil and gas industries, an American solar company has developed technology that can produce super-efficient solar power that’s cheaper than fossil fuels...

Science recently scored a simultaneous victory over pollution for both recycling and renewable energy! A team of researchers at MIT has come up with plan to turn old car batteries into durable solar panels...

University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers are working on next-generation solar cells that are made from organic dyes instead of silicon. The dye solar cells could drive down costs and spread solar energy to small electronics...

If you can make a battery out of a piece of citrus, why not a crustacean? Scientists at Stanford University are taking a look at the nanostructure of crab shells to create better lithium-ion batteries...

Solar Panel photo from Shutterstock Solar panels offer a clean source of alternative energy – but ironically, the solar industry has a significant carbon footprint due to its reliance on coal and natural gas to manufacture...

Carbon nanotube image from Shutterstock Carbon nanotubes are heralded as a next-gen wonder material capable of creating everything from space elevators to better batteries, and now a team of scientists is working on creating...

A team of researchers at MIT has developed a new type of textured solar surface that could bring down the cost of photovoltaic technology by reducing the thickness of silicon used by more than 90% while still maintaining...

The Tata Group has signed a deal with the founder of SunCatalytix, MIT scientist Daniel Nocera, who has discovered how to generate energy water. Although the terms of their agreement have not yet been disclosed, this breakthrough...

The Bay area startup

We all know that solar panels are at the forefront of green energy technology, but they aren’t the most aesthetically pleasing to look at. Aiming to solve that issue, Greendix, a custom solar panel supplier, has created...

Forget silicon — the next major light-absorbing material in solar cells could be carbon. Chemists at Indiana University Bloomington have figured out how to effectively create big sheets of carbon that collect light...

At the moment, electrical signals transfer information between computer chips using copper wires–a process that sucks up a lot of energy. But now researchers from IBM have developed a process that scraps the copper...

With normal solar cells, you need direct sunlight for them to generate power, and if the panels are at all shaded the efficiency drops significantly. A new type of solar cell, being developed in Jerusalem, is making huge...

The race for the world’s most efficient solar power cell is forever played out in fractions of percentages. The latest victory comes from scientists at the University of New South Wales in Australia, who have concocted...