Photovoltaic Research News
Visit the NREL news section for a complete list of NREL press releases and feature stories related to PV.
Dec. 15, 2016
A strategy for producing stable and commercially available perovskite solar cells (PSCs) has been proposed by Kai Zhu and Keith Emery at the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), in collaboration with Nam-Gyu Park (Korea), Michael Grätzel (Switzerland), and Tsutomu Miyasaka (Japan).
Dec. 15, 2016
Two thousand years ago, Roman legionnaires lugged 100-pound packs into battle. A lot has changed since then, but technology hasn't really reduced an infantryman's load. On the battlefield, mobility is critical--but a typical, modern Marine may shoulder an 80-pound backpack containing 20 pounds of back-up batteries for an array of electronics.
Nov. 28, 2016
Solar panels at the Energy Department's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) are ubiquitous to the point of practically being invisible, but new rows of photovoltaic (PV) modules installed on the southern edge of campus are intended to attract attention.
Oct. 6, 2016
Scientists with the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) for the first time discovered how to make perovskite solar cells out of quantum dots and used the new material to convert sunlight to electricity with 10.77 percent efficiency.
Sept. 28, 2016
The modeled costs to install solar photovoltaic (PV) systems continued to decline in the first quarter of 2016 in the U.S. residential, commercial, and utility-scale sectors, according to updated benchmarks from the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). Driving the cost reductions were lower module and inverter prices, increased competition, lower installer and developer overheads, improved labor productivity, and optimized system configurations.
Sept. 8, 2016
A new theoretical framework on defect formation in semiconductors-materials used in a multitude of NREL-developed technologies such as solar cells, light-emitting diodes (LEDs), and power electronics-indicates that shining light on them during growth can lead to improved crystalline quality and, ultimately, better device performance.
June 27, 2016
A new report, End-of-Life Management: Solar Photovoltaic Panels, highlights that recycling or repurposing solar PV panels at the end of their roughly 30-year lifetime can unlock a large stock of raw materials and other valuable components.
June 6, 2016
NREL scientists have helped to establish research capabilities to address several important scientific and practical questions concerning perovskite solar cells. Perovskites are an important class of next-generation photovoltaic materials exhibiting impressive light absorption, high device efficiencies, and low-cost, industry-scalable processing.
March 28, 2016
Two recently published papers show the results of photoemission spectroscopy and time-resolved optical spectroscopy, which quantify the energetics and carrier dynamics that occur at interfaces between the perovskite absorber and transport layers.
March 1, 2016
Nearly 200 researchers from more than 100 companies and representing 16 countries attended the 7th annual PV Module Reliability Workshop, Feb. 23–25, 2016, in Golden, Colo.
Feb. 11, 2016
In an interview published in Solar Today, Dr. Jao van de Lagemaat, director of the Chemistry and Nanoscience Center at the National Renewable Laboratory (NREL), highlighted various aspects of perovskites, which have received considerable attention by solar cell researchers at NREL and other institutions.
