US Department of Energy

Perovskite/Silicon Tandem Solar Cells on Threshold of 30% Efficiency

An HZB team has published a report in the journal Science on the development of its current world record of 29.15% efficiency for a tandem solar cell made of perovskite and silicon. The tandem cell provided stable performance for 300 hours - even without encapsulation. To accomplish this, the group headed by Prof. Steve Albrecht investigated physical processes at the interfaces to improve the transport of the charge carriers.

Oxford PV Hits New World Record for Solar Cell

Revolutionary perovskite solar technology has set a new world record for the amount of the sun's energy that can be converted into electricity by a single solar cell.

New Class of Cobalt-Free Cathodes for Next-Gen Lithium-Ion Batteries

Researchers have developed a new family of cathodes with the potential to replace the costly cobalt-based cathodes typically found in today's lithium-ion batteries that power electric vehicles and consumer electronics.

Transparent Electronics: $20 Billion Market Comes into Sight

The new IDTechEx report, "Transparent Electronics Materials, Applications, Markets 2021-2041" describes a market that will be well above $20 billion in 2041 with a substantial possible upside.

First Solar's Photovoltaic Technology Completes 25 Years of Testing

Determining how many years a solar panel will last can take, well, years. Intended to function for 25 years or more, solar panels must be made to withstand the elements. In some cases, panels continue working well after their planned operational lifetime.

IDTechEx Assesses 5 Significant Electric Vehicle Opportunities in 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused 2020 to become the pivotal year as the automotive industry goes through a once in a hundred-year transformation.

A Defect-resistant Superalloy for 3D Printing

In recent years, it has become possible to use laser beams and electron beams to "print" engineering objects that have complex shapes that could not be achieved by conventional manufacturing routes. The additive manufacturing process, known widely as 3D printing, for metallic materials involves melting and fusing fine-scale powder particles — each about ten times finer than a grain of local beach sand — in sub-millimeter-scale "pools" created by focusing a laser or electron beam on the material.

New Machine Learning Tool Tracks Urban Traffic Congestion

A new machine learning algorithm is poised to help urban transportation analysts relieve bottlenecks and chokepoints that routinely snarl city traffic.

Funding for Hydrokinetic Turbine Development

The U.S. Department of Energy today announced $35 million in funding for 11 projects as part of the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy's Submarine Hydrokinetic And Riverine Kilo-megawatt Systems program. Teams will develop new economically competitive Hydrokinetic Turbines designs for tidal and riverine currents.

Improving High-Energy Lithium-Ion Batteries with Carbon Filler

Lithium-ion batteries are the major rechargeable power source for many portable devices as well as electric vehicles, but their use is limited, because they do not provide high power output while simultaneously allowing reversible energy storage.

Solid Power

Solid Power is a spin-out from the University of Colorado Boulder developing sulfide-based all solid-state batteries (ASSB) and has been in operation since 2014.

Verdant Power Tidal Turbines Deployed in New York City's East River

Verdant Power has installed an array of three tidal power turbines at its Roosevelt Island Tidal Energy Project site in the East River. The deployment came as the first US licensed tidal power project.