US Department of Energy

Around the world with dye-sensitized solar cells

Dr Zervos at IDTechEx looks at the global picture for dye-sensitized solar cells.

PV news roundup from the 33rd IEEE PV Event

Over the last three years significant developments have been made with efficiency of organic based PV cells.

Photovoltaics - The macroeconomic view

Raghu Das, CEO of IDTechEx summarises the 33rd Annual IEEE Photovoltaics event and the state of the industry in the first part of this two part article.

Nano-Proprietary Inc awarded grant by Department of Energy

Nano-Proprietary, Inc. announced that its subsidiary Applied Nanotech, Inc. has been selected to be awarded a new phase I Small Business Innovation Research Program grant by the U.S. Department of Energy.

Metamaterials: Printing the cloak of invisibility

Physicists no longer say that the invisibility cloak of Harry Potter, the vanishing car of James Bond or the Invisible Man are an impossibility. It may be possible to make things invisible by putting a thin layer of a specially patterned material in the way.

Increasing efficiencies for thin film solar cells

Recently, researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) announced that they have moved closer to creating a thin-film solar cell that can compete with the efficiency of the more common silicon-based solar cell.

US government to make solar energy more cost competitive

Eleven technology led projects will focus on developing advanced solar photovoltaic (PV) technology manufacturing processes and products.

Carbon nanotubes have a sound future in the electronics industry

Once again transistor radios made from carbon nanotubes make the news.

"Power shirt" would harvest energy from physical movement

Nanotechnology researchers are developing the perfect complement to the power tie: a

RFID - Larger Orders and More of Them

The largest RFID orders - here comes China - huge advances coming in HF RFID - new vibrant technologies.

Berkeley Lab, USA create the smallest radio ever made

The first fully functional radio from a single carbon nanotube has been created by a team of researchers with the US Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) making it the smallest radio ever made.

Quantum Dot Materials May Improve Efficiency of Silicon Solar Cells

In the race to make clean technologies more efficient and marketable a breakthrough has been made by Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), collaborating with Innovalight, Inc., showing that a new and important effect called Multiple Exciton Generation (MEG) occurs efficiently in silicon nanocrystals.

Plextronics Closes $20.6 Million Series B Financing

Plextronics, Inc. announced last week that it has completed a $20.6 million Series B financing. The round is led by Solvay North America Investments, LLC, a member of the Solvay Group, an international chemical and pharmaceutical group headquartered in Brussels.

Plextronics' Organic Solar Cell Technology Breaks World Record

The company's result of 5.4 percent establishes a new world record for single layer organic solar cells as certified by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), in Golden, Colorado.

Inorganic Printed Electronics - The Great Opportunity

The future $300 billion market for printed electronics is emerging via thin film electronics. The contribution of organic materials to this is greatly publicized but the best devices being developed usually rely on inorganic or combined inorganic/organic technology. The more select groups developing these inorganic materials and devices have a great future. IDTechEx has published the first study on Inorganic Printed and Thin Film Electronics. Here Dr Peter Harrop summarises some of the findings.