04/11/08 Near perfect non-reflective coatings developed by RPI

Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute are claiming to have developed a near perfect non-reflective coating for solar cells, enabling them to capturemore of the available light energy.
A standard cell only absorbs approximately 67% of the light enrgy falling on it, the rest being reflected(silicon is a naturally shiny substance). Therefor cells are coated with a non reflecctive layer.
The new layer developped by RPI is claimed to result in the absorption of 96% of the light. What's more, it is also better at capturing light coming from less than an ideal angle.
The layer is in-fact made up from 7 layers, each with a thickness of 50 - 100 nanometers (ie maximum thickness of 1/2000 of a millimeter) consisting of silicon dioxide and titanium dioxide nanorods positioned at oblique angles.

It is claimed that this new coating could negate some of the benefit from having a tracking system keeping panels pointing towards the sun.

More Solar Power News

 18/07/10     Spain Becomes Solar Power Generation World Leader
When Spain's latest solar power plant came on-line this week it brought the county's total power generation from solar t...More

 16/07/10     New Electricity Generation From Renewables in USA and Europe Greater Than Conventional
Reports published recently have shown that for the second year running, increased electricity generating capacity from r...More

 28/06/10     Sunpower Announce PV Cell Efficiency Record
Sunpower corporation of the United States have announced that they have achieved an efficiency rating for a full scale p...More

 14/06/10     Worlds Largest Concentrated Solar Power Plant Planned in Abu Dhabi
The French oil firm Total and Abengoa Solar of Spain are reported to be planning to join up with Masdar of Abu Dhabi to ...More

 26/03/10     Advanced Energy Industries to Acquire PV Powered
Colorado based Advanced Energy Industries, producers of utility scale inverters and other technologies for the solar ind...More

 24/10/09     Largest PV Panel Power Plant in USA Comes Online
Largest PV panel power plant to date is due to come online this week in Florida. The plant, located approximately 80 ...More

 24/10/09     Solarmer Breaks Efficiency Record for Plastic PV Cells
Solarmer Energy Inc of the USA have reported that they have broken their own record for efficiency with a plastic pv cel...More

 18/09/09     Global Solar Energy Inc of USA Achieve over 15% Efficiency with Thin Film
Global Solar Energy, based in the USA and Germany have achieved a milestone efficiency of over 15% (15.45%) with their C...More

 25/08/09     Italy's Largest Photvoltaic Plant Completed
The largest photovoltaic power plant to date in Italy has been completed at Montalto di Castro, approximately 90 Km up t...More

 18/08/09     Germany's Largest Solar Plant Goes Online
With over half a million thin film solar modules, covering around 160 Ha of the old military training ground of Lieberos...More

 25/05/09     New Report Predicts 25% of Electricity from Concentrated Solar by 2050
A report just out produced jointly by Greenpeace, the European Solar Thermal Electricity Association (ESTELA) and IEA So...More

 28/04/09     Spanish 20MW Solar Tower Comes Online
The PS20 solar tower near Sevilla in south west Spain came online yesterday after trials that resulted in predicted outp...More

 11/03/09     Copenhagen Conference Hears that North Africa Could Power Europe
A Climate Change conference in Copenhagen has been hearing that using solar power installations in the Sahara Desert (po...More

 06/12/08     California Company Promotes Cylindrical Solar Panels
Solyndra, a California based company started producing cylindrical pv panels earlier this year, claiming substantial ben...More

 05/11/08     Solar Power in Present Economic Climate
The present changes in the economic climate are expected to have an effect on many sectors of the economy, including the...More

 04/11/08     Near perfect non-reflective coatings developed by RPI
Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute are claiming to have developed a near perfect non-reflective coating for...More

 21/10/08     New Solar Cell Material Created
Ohio State University claim to have created a new solar cell material that will absorb all the sun's energy (previous ce...More

 12/10/08     MIT Breakthrough with Power Storage
Researchers at the MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) have been working on a project which they believe could r...More