dye-sensitized solar cell Archives – The Green Optimistic

Influence of Solvent Mixtures on The Structure of Organic Solar Cells

Mila Luleva — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 18:44:06 +0000

Physicists from North Carolina State University claim that by controlling the way “mixing” occurs between the solar cell domains, we can boost their efficiency. According to new research, within a polymer-based solar cell, the speed of movement of energy particles towards the interface of the donor and acceptor domains of the solar cell can be […]

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New Type of Highly Efficient Grätzel-Like Solar Cells Don’t Leak

Ovidiu Sandru — Wed, 23 May 2012 19:50:01 +0000

A research group from Northwestern University has unveiled a new type of dye-sensitized (organic) solar cell that is a technological leap forward and that will make Michael Grätzel proud of his invention. Their new solar cell is not more efficient, but lasts for longer in real life conditions. Current dye-sensitized solar cells use a liquid electrolyte. […]

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Singlet Fission Having The Possibility to Increase Solar Cell Efficiency by 35 Percent

Ovidiu Sandru — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 17:17:09 +0000

A molecular system that could be used to enhance the efficiency of solar cells by 35 percent has been recently discovered by NREL and University of Colorado, Boulder (UCB) researchers.

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New Quantum Dot-Enabled Solar Cells Doubling Output Current With Same Lighting Conditions

Ovidiu Sandru — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 14:05:28 +0000

Cost-efficient and energy-efficient solar cells could be right around the corner. These so-called "third-generation" photovoltaics begin to emerge nowadays and dismiss a theory stated in 1961 by William Shockley and Hans Queisser, who showed that there is a theoretical 31 percent limitation in what regards the maximum efficiency for a single solar cell.

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Rohm's 30% Efficient Indoor Organic Solar Cells Exhibited at Ceatec Japan 2010

Ovidiu Sandru — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 15:41:34 +0000

Ceatec Japan 2010 hosted Rohm's new dye-sensitized solar cells that we were talking about a few months ago. Now, the Japanese company applied their plans to TV remotes, mice and sensors.

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Jellyfish Protein Serves as Organic Solar Cell; Could Be Used in Health Implants

Ovidiu Sandru — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 03:45:56 +0000

Recently, Zackary Chiragwandi at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden, and his colleagues have developed a solar cell based on a green fluorescent protein (GFP) from the jellyfish Aequorea victoria.

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Zinc Oxide Solar Cells Receiving 8 Percent Boost With Food Dyes

Ovidiu Sandru — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 16:53:57 +0000

Zinc oxide-based solar cells have just received an innovation from an Indian scientist, Ram Mehra of Sharda University in Greater Noida, India. He claims boosting the capacity of zinc oxide fuel cells and making them capture more of the incident light by using a blended mixture of common dyes, regularly used in food and medical industries.

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Stromatolites From Australia Give Clues on Infrared Light Harvesting for Solar Cells

Ovidiu Sandru — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 07:39:44 +0000

If we learned to fly from birds, and to swim from fish, then why shouldn't we learn to extract our energy like plants do? The Australian Shark Bay gives us a clue on how we could.

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Graphene Flakes With Attached Brushes Improving Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Ovidiu Sandru — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 14:38:09 +0000

Until now, graphene could have theoretically been incorporated into the dye used to make the Graetzel cell to improve its efficiency, but what stopped the scientists to do that was that it always clumped together, forming graphite, which is of no use for a solar cell.

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DIY: How to Make a Solar Cell at Home From Readily Available Stuff and… Blackberries

Ovidiu Sandru — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 13:56:35 +0000

A very neat experiment that anyone with some skills can do in the garage or kitchen is creating a solar cell out of blackberry juice and titanium dioxide (and several other components).

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Chemistry Professor Innovation Making Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells More Efficient and Durable

Ovidiu Sandru — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 14:56:21 +0000

Dye-sensitized (Graetzel) solar cells have been in the spot of many minds since they were first created in early ’90s by Michael Graetzel, from EPFL, Switzerland. Until now, dye-sensitized solar cells only proved to be cheap, but also inefficient. New technologies are expected to improve their performances. Graetzel cells work on the same principle photosynthesis […]

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Coral-Shaped Nanomaterials Making Great Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Ovidiu Sandru — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 12:12:43 +0000

Coral shaped nanomaterials could help scientists make more efficient solar cells. A team of chinese researchers, led by Jinhuai Liu at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, changed the structure of tin oxide to serve various purposes in solar cells, batteries, gas sensors and other devices.

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Optical Fiber Solar Cells: Cheap, Flexible, Six Times More Efficient

Ovidiu Sandru — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 07:51:04 +0000

Georgia Tech researchers have developed a system that uses dye-sensitized (GrÃƒÆ’¤tzel) solar cells wrapped around optical fibers to increase their overall efficiency, since it's known GrÃƒÆ’¤tzel cells are not very efficient. The fiber solar cells they obtained are 6 times more efficient than zinc-oxide solar cells having the same area.

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G24 Innovations Sells Grätzel's Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells for the First Time

Ovidiu Sandru — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 11:23:10 +0000

Dye-sensitized solar cells, or Grätzel cells, have been invented by Michael Grätzel in 1991. Grätzel is a chemistry professor at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland, and since now they didn’t have any commercial purpose, being developed just for research. The first company who is about to commercialize Grätzel’s cells is G24 Innovations, […]

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Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells Got Better by Using Ionic Salts

Ovidiu Sandru — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 23:43:51 +0000

A group of researchers from the Universidad Pablo de Olavide, in Seville, Spain, led by Juan Antonio Anta, are working on optimizing Grätzel solar cells by incorporating ionic salts, known as green solvents, with a view to preventing evaporation of the liquid compounds and the consequent reduction in efficiency. Grätzel (dye-sensitized) cells work by using […]

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Thin-Film Panchromatic Solar Cells: Next Generation of Solar Efficiency

Cristi — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 20:07:05 +0000

A Korean team led by Nam-Gyu Park has recently made a breakthrough discovery in solar cell development. This discovery will not only increase the efficiency of thin-film panchromatic solar cells but as well the use of clean and reusable energy on the entire globe.

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DIY Solar Cell from Tea and Donuts

Ovidiu Sandru — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 15:22:59 +0000

The Holy Grail of energy has been, is, and will be the solar power. Numerous solutions of converting solar power have existed along the centuries, and people have always used the Sun to power things up, except for the last hundred years or so - that's the main reason we all got into troubles with mother nature.

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Tiny Dead Marine Cells Helping Us Create Better Solar Cells

Ovidiu Sandru — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 19:21:01 +0000

Using microscopic creatures as our friends is not a new idea, not it has been used recently. Nowadays, pushed by our green energy needs, we have to find solutions by using and probably killing some of our little friends to make us energy. This phrase sounded like the madhouse, now let's get to the real subject.

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Japanese Optical Fiber Solar Cell Harvesting Infrared

Ovidiu Sandru — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 06:01:34 +0000

New types of solar cells emerge every month, but this particular kind has caught my attention, not due to its efficiency (approx 1%), but to the idea that conceived it.

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Butterfly Wings Have Solar Cells Inside: Inspiration for Scientists

Ovidiu Sandru — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 16:21:47 +0000

The researchers studied the butterfly wings, using them as molds or templates. They made copies of the butterflies' solar collectors, and transferred the light-harvesting structures to classic GrÃƒÆ’¤tzel (or dye-sensitized) cells.

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