The copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) thin-film solar cell recently reached 19.9 percent efficiency, setting a new world record for this type of cell. Multicrystalline silicon-based solar cells have shown efficiencies as high as 20.3 percent. The energy conversion efficiency of a solar cell is the percentage of sunlight converted by the cell into electricity.

"This is an important milestone," said NREL Senior Scientist Miguel Contreras. "The thin film people have always looked for matching silicon in performance, and we are reaching that goal."

CIGS cells use extremely thin layers of semiconductor material applied to a low-cost backing such as glass, flexible metallic foils, high-temperature polymers or stainless steel sheets. Thin-film cells require less energy to make and can be fabricated by a variety of processes.  Because of this, they provide a promising path for providing more affordable solar cellsResearchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory have moved closer to creating a thin-film solar cell that can compete with the efficiency of the more common silicon-based solar cell. for residential and other uses. The CIGS cells are of interest for space applications and the portable electronics market because of their light weight. They are also suitable in special architectural uses, such as photovoltaic roof shingles, windows, siding and others.

After many years of development, flexible displays are starting to enter the mainstream technology of display products as witnessed by the development of the Sony LIBRIe with e-Ink Vizplex technology. Flexible plastic electronics are finally coming to maturity as organic semiconductor materials and processes improve. Plastic Logic Ltd., Cambridge, UK, has a built a manufacturing facility for flexible display modules. By using printing processes and organic semiconductors, thin film transistors can be formed without the worry of high processing temperatures. A common substrate is polyethylene terathalate (PET) plastic film. Layer to layer alignment is typically +/- 5 microns. The current reader display product, QUEproReader, was shown at the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) in Las Vegas, NV in January 2010. The MIT Technology Review has listed Plastic Logic as one of the top Innovative Companies for 2010. Further information is reviewed in Information Display 26, February (2010) p.16-19. And on the Plastic logic web site: http://www.plasticlogic.com/ereader/plastic-display.php

From ScienceDaily, March 5, 2010

Solar cells made from silicon are projected to be a prominent factor in future renewable green energy equations, but so far the promise has far exceeded the reality. While there are now silicon photovoltaics that can convert sunlight into electricity at impressive 20 percent efficiencies, the cost of this solar power is prohibitive for large-scale use. Researchers with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), however, are developing a new approach that could substantially reduce these costs. The key to their success is a better way of trapping sunlight.

"Through the fabrication of thin films from ordered arrays of vertical silicon nanowires we've been able to increase the light-trapping in our solar cells by a factor of 73," says chemist Peidong Yang, who led this research. "Since the fabrication technique behind this extraordinary light-trapping enhancement is a relatively simple and scalable aqueous chemistry process, we believe our approach represents an economically viable path toward high-efficiency, low-cost thin-film solar cells."

Yang holds joint appointments with Berkeley Lab's Materials Sciences Division, and the University of California Berkeley's Chemistry Department. He is a leading authority on semiconductor nanowires -- one-dimensional strips of materials whose width measures only one-thousandth that of a human hair but whose length may stretch several microns.

By Alex Hutchinson, Popular Mechanics, October 2007

A gecko's foot is like a perfect Post-it: As the lizard walks up a wall, its feet stick fast and peel off smoothly, never slipping, and since no viscous glue is involved, never losing grip. Now, a team at Ohio's University of Akron has produced a new kind of "gecko tape" that mimics the thousands of hairs on the gecko's footpad, each of which splits into hundreds of smaller nanohairs. The tape uses bundles of setae-strong but flexible carbon nanotubes-which, like the gecko hairs, create an electrostatic attraction with a surface.

Other researchers have also aped the gecko-Stanford University's Stickybot, for example, climbs using feet covered with tiny angled setae hairs. But these previous attempts have never matched the strength and re-usability of the original. One square inch of the new tape supports 50 pounds, making it four times stronger than a gecko's foot. No commercial plans have been announced, but the team envisions the tape being used in space.

Product Design and Development, March 2, 2010

One-atom-thick sheet offers new microelectronic possibilities that scale well below the limitations of silicon by Moore's Law.