Solar energy news and discussion

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In a First, Caltech's Space Solar Power Demonstrator Wirelessly Transmits Power in Space
June 01, 2023
https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/in-a ... r-in-space
A space solar power prototype that was launched into orbit in January is operational and has demonstrated its ability to wirelessly transmit power in space and to beam detectable power to Earth for the first time.

Wireless power transfer was demonstrated by MAPLE, one of three key technologies being tested by the Space Solar Power Demonstrator (SSPD-1), the first space-borne prototype from Caltech's Space Solar Power Project (SSPP). SSPP aims to harvest solar power in space and transmit it to the Earth's surface.
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For the first time in decades, Congress seems interested in space-based solar power

As far as legislative moments go, the passage of a minor amendment to an innocuous US House resolution on Wednesday was not exactly groundbreaking. But for space exploration enthusiasts, the amendment offered by US Rep. Kevin Mullin, D-Calif., was kind of a big deal.

That's because, for the first time since the 1970s, the idea of space-based solar power has been addressed legislatively by the US Congress.

"Although the technology to gather solar energy in space and send it to the surface as electricity is not yet commercially viable at scale, we already know from early research that it is possible," Mullin said during a meeting of the Science, Space, and Technology Committee on Wednesday.

Mullin was seeking to amend House Resolution 2988, a bill instructing NASA and the US Department of Energy to collaborate on key areas of research and development, including propulsion, artificial intelligence, astrophysics, Earth science, and quantum computing. He sought to add space-based solar power to the list. The amendment passed overwhelmingly by a bipartisan committee vote.
https://arstechnica.com/space/2023/06/f ... lar-power/
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Breakthrough Solar Cell Technology Exceeds Crucial 30% Efficiency Threshold
With an improved power conversion rate, these cells could give the solar panel industry a boost.
By Adrianna Nine July 11, 2023
Multiple research teams have produced solar cells that topple the long-awaited 30% efficiency milestone. In a pair of research papers published Thursday, two groups share the processes by which they’ve designed perovskite-silicon tandem solar cells with increased open circuit voltages, allowing for heightened power conversion that could boost the solar panel industry.

Put simply, a solar cell’s efficiency rate refers to how much sunlight it can convert into electricity. If a particular solar cell has an efficiency rate of 25%, a quarter of all the sunlight that hits the cell will become usable electricity. Most commercially-available solar cells (the ones that make up the panels on top of your house or your local university’s parking lot) possess a maximum efficiency of 24.5%. In comparison, experimental cells have historically tapped out at 27%. As a result, researchers have long aimed to produce a cell that can hit 30% or more—and they’ve finally got it.
https://www.extremetech.com/energy/brea ... -threshold
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Improving high-temperature stability of perovskite solar cells
https://techxplore.com/news/2023-07-hig ... cells.html
by Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have gained attention for their high power-conversion efficiencies and low-cost solution processing. However, ensuring their stability at high temperatures has been a challenge, as the points of contact between their different layers ("interfaces") are susceptible to degradation, leading to energy loss and decreased performance.

In a new study, researchers have found that they can minimize PSC degradation at high temperatures by using fluorinated aniliniums, a class of compounds used in pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, and materials science. The study was led by Michael Grätzel at EPFL, Edward Sargent at the University of Toronto, and Kenneth Graham at the University of Kentucky. It is published in Science.

The researchers incorporated fluorinated aniliniums in the "interfacial passivation" step of PSC fabrication. Interfacial passivation is a technique used to enhance the stability and performance of interfaces between different layers or materials to minimize defects, reduce charge recombination, and improve overall efficiency and stability.
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weatheriscool
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Researchers fabricate phase-heterojunction all-inorganic perovskite solar cells with an efficiency above 21.5%
https://techxplore.com/news/2023-08-fab ... solar.html
by Ingrid Fadelli , Tech Xplore
Solar technologies have become increasingly advanced over the years, with the discovery of new photovoltaic materials and designs. While solar cells based on a mixture of organic and inorganic halide perovskite materials have been the topic of numerous research studies and achieved promising performances, these cells are often difficult to fabricate on a large-scale.

Researchers at Chonnam University in South Korea recently introduced an alternative solar cell design fully based on inorganic perovskites. Their solar cells, introduced in Nature Energy, could be easier to fabricate on a large-scale, while nonetheless achieving promising power conversion efficiencies (PCEs).

"Previous efforts in the perovskite community mostly used single junction and single phase for the fabrication of perovskite solar cells using hazardous antisolvents," Dr. Sawanta S. Mali, lead author of the paper, told Tech Xplore.

"Instead, we introduced an anti-solvent free hot-air method for fabrication of beta (β)-CsPbI3 phase in ambient condition and gamma (γ)-CsPbI3 phase has been deposited on to β-CsPbI3 bottom layer using simple thermal evaporation method. Both these two phases playing key role in charge extraction process which results in >21.5 % power conversion efficiency."
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An affordable and scalable strategy to fabricate efficient silicon heterojunction solar cells
https://techxplore.com/news/2023-08-sca ... licon.html
by Ingrid Fadelli , Tech Xplore
Silicon heterojunction (SHJ), solar cells based on a heterojunction between semiconductors with different band gaps, are among the most promising photovoltaic technologies. So far, these cells have exhibited remarkable power conversion efficiencies and good operational stabilities.

Despite their great potential and notable advantages, SHJ solar cells are typically based on rare and expensive materials, which limits their widespread deployment. In addition, their fabrication is often incompatible with existing manufacturing processes, further complicating their large-scale production.

A team of researchers at Suzhou Maxwell Technologies Co., Nankai University and other institutes in China recently introduced a new design and fabrication strategy that could reduce the costs of SHJ solar technology, without drastically reducing their efficiency. In a paper published in Nature Energy, the team presented highly promising results achieved by solar cells that were produced using their proposed strategy.

"The limited supply of rare indium and the high cost of silver paste are among the most important problems that SHJ solar cells will face," Cao Yu, Qiaojiao Zou and their colleagues wrote in their paper. "To overcome the obstacle of indium-based transparent electrodes for efficient SHJ solar cells, we successfully prepared cheap and mass-producible undoped tin oxide (SnOx) electrode materials by sputtering at room temperature."
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