Sunlight in - power out, long after sunset

Solar battery based on porous organic material

30-May-2025 - This material acts like a solar reservoir – storing energy and releasing it as electricity long after sunset. The captured solar energy can thus also be used to supply electricity in the dark. For the first time, it has been possible to combine solar harvesting and long-term energy storage in a ...

Record-breaking efficiency achieved in all-organic solar cells!

While conventional solar panels generate problematic waste, all-carbon based solar cells promise an environmentally friendly alternative

30-Apr-2025 - As global efforts to combat climate change continue, demand for solar energy is growing. However, since the currently most used silicon-based solar panels comprise a variety of hazardous substances, their disposal or recycling cause environmental impact and require substantial cost. The same ...

Scientists develop strategy to improve flexible tandem solar cell performance

23-Apr-2025 - Chinese scientists have found a way to make flexible tandem solar cells more efficient and durableby enhancingthe adhesion of top layers to the bottom layers of the cell. Copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) is a commercial semiconductor known for its outstanding adjustable bandgap, strong ...

Strain “trick” improves perovskite solar cells’ efficiency

07-Apr-2025 - Solar energy is one of the most promising solutions for reducing our dependence on fossil fuels. But making solar panels more efficient is a constant challenge. Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have been a game-changer, offering rapid improvements in efficiency and potential for low-cost ...

New solar cells from the 3D printer

The future of energy generation?

02-Apr-2025 - In the future, solar energy could come out of a 3D printer by the meter: Researchers at Swansea University (Wales, United Kingdom) have succeeded in producing perovskite solar cells using 3D printing. In the future, this innovation could lead to flexible, cost-effective and efficient solar cells ...

Lords of the molecular Rings: An Innovative Shortcut to High-Performance Organic Materials

A Game Changer for Advanced Technologies

19-Mar-2025 - Scientists at the Institute of Organic Chemistry, University of Vienna, have unveiled an innovative approach for synthesizing azaparacyclophanes (APCs), a class of highly advanced ring-shaped molecular structures with immense potential in material science. Their innovative Catalyst-Transfer ...

Perovskite solar cells: Thermal stresses are the key to long-term stability

24-Feb-2025 - Perovskite solar cells are highly efficient and low cost in production. However, they still lack stability over the decades under real weather conditions. An international research collaboration led by Prof. Antonio Abate has now published a perspective on this topic in the journal Nature Reviews ...

HZB Sets New World Record for CIGS Perovskite Tandem Solar Cells

"We are confident that CIGS-perovskite tandem cells can achieve much higher efficiencies..."

07-Feb-2025 - Combining two semiconductor thin films into a tandem solar cell can achieve high efficiencies with a minimal environmental footprint. Teams from HZB and Humboldt University Berlin have now presented a CIGS-perovskite tandem cell that sets a new world record with an efficiency of 24.6%, certified ...

Achieving better photovoltaic materials faster with AI

How machine learning greatly accelerates the search for new semiconducting molecules for perovskite solar cells

02-Jan-2025 - Perovskite solar cells are considered a flexible and sustainable alternative to conventional silicon-based solar cells. Within a period of a few weeks, researchers have now found new organic molecules that can be used to increase the efficiency of perovskite solar cells. The international team ...

Record efficiency - tandem solar cells made from perovskite and organic material

“This was only possible by combining two major breakthroughs”

04-Dec-2024 - Trying to improve the efficiency of solar cells to become independent from fossil energy sources is a major goal of solar cell research. A team around the physicist Dr. Felix Lang from the University of Potsdam, Prof. Lei Meng and Prof. Yongfang Li from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, ...