Researchers at Duke University have revealed long-hidden molecular dynamics that provide desirable properties for solar energy and heat energy applications to an exciting class of materials called halide perovskites. A key contributor to how these materials create and transport electricity literally hinges on the way their atomic lattice twists and turns in […]
An innovative analysis of two-dimensional (2D) materials from engineers at the University of Surrey could boost the development of next-generation solar cells and LEDs. Three-dimensional perovskites have proved themselves remarkably successful materials for LED devices and solar panels in the past decade. One key issue with these materials, however, is their stability, […]
New scientific techniques are revealing the intricate role that proteins play in photosynthesis. Despite being discovered almost 300 years ago, photosynthesis still holds many unanswered questions for science, particularly the way that proteins organise themselves to convert sunlight into chemical energy and at the same time, protect plants from too much sunlight. […]
Two types of materials are better than one when it comes to solar cells, as revealed by an international team that has tested a new combination of materials and architecture to improve solar-cell efficiency. Silicon has long dominated as the premier material for solar cells, helped by its abundance as a raw […]
Photovoltaics decisively contributes to sustainable energy supply. The efficiency of solar cells in directly converting light energy into electrical energy depends on the material used. Metal-halide perovskites are considered very promising materials for solar cells of the next generation. With these semiconductors named after their special crystal structure, a considerable increase in efficiency was […]
Quantum dots are manmade nanoparticles of semiconducting material comprising only a few thousand atoms. Because of the small number of atoms, a quantum dot’s properties lie between those of single atoms or molecules and bulk material with a huge number of atoms. By changing the nanoparticles’ size and shape, it is possible to fine-tune […]
