By Katherine Bourzac, Technology Review, April 22, 2010

Energy storage devices called ultracapacitors can be recharged many more times than batteries, but the total amount of energy they can store is limited. This means that the devices are useful for providing intense bursts of power to supplement batteries but less so for applications that require steady power over a long period, such as running a laptop or an engine.

 Now researchers at Drexel University in Philadelphia have demonstrated that it's possible to use techniques borrowed from the chip-making industry to make thin-film carbon ultracapacitors that store three times as much energy by volume as conventional ultracapacitor materials. While that is not as much as batteries, the thin-film ultracapacitors could operate without ever being replaced.

These charge-storage films could be fabricated directly onto RFID chips and the chips used in digital watches, where they would take up less space than a conventional battery. They could also be fabricated on the backside of solar cells in both portable devices and rooftop installations, to store power generated during the day for use after sundown. The materials have been licensed by Pennsylvania startup Y-Carbon.

(Click the image to read the full article on www.technologyreview.com)
Image: Min Heon

By Mark Osborne, PV-tech.org Daily News, April 29, 2010

The U.S. research institute NREL held the conversion efficiency record for copper, indium, gallium, and selenium (CIGS) solar cells for 16 years but has lost this accolade to scientists at the Zentrum für Sonnenenergie- und Wasserstoff-Forschung Baden-Württemberg, Germany (Centre for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research, ZSW). ZSW, based in Stuttgart, has demonstrated CIGS cell efficiency of 20.1% on a 0.5-square-centimetre cell. The Fraunhofer ISE in Freiburg, Germany has confirmed the new results.
"This record is for thin-film technology in general and not just CIGS solar cells," noted Dr. Michael Powalla, member of the board and head of the photovoltaics division at ZSW. "It is the result of continuous systematic research which has been supported for years by the Federal Ministry of the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Economics and the European Community. A major factor in achieving this top position was the close cooperation between basic research at the university, applied research at the ZSW, and production development at our industrial partner Würth Solar."

Computational modeling tools developed at the Georgia Institute of Technology could accelerate development of a new type of membrane technology that will boost the efficiency of energy-related gas separations.  The tools will help researchers identify the best candidate materials for use in new metal-organic framework (MOF) membranes now under development.

MOF membranes offer an alternative to more energy intensive processes for separating gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrogen and hydrogen.  The technology has generated significant interest because of the broad range of crystalline structures that can be synthesized, but development of new MOF membranes is still at an early stage.

April 19, 2010

In many industrial forming processes fluctuations in the process parameters lead to badly formed parts, tears or wrinkles. In order to improve cost-effectiveness in, for example, deep drawing and hydroforming, scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Surface Engineering and Thin Films IST and the Fraunhofer Institute for Machine Tools and Forming Technology IWU have, in collaboration with a consortium from industry, optimized the regulation of forming processes by means of tools equipped with an integrated thin-film sensor system. This is part of the ORUM project of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. During the forming process the universal sensor modules supply the process data required for dynamic on-line process control. An electronic unit evaluates the sensor signals and transmits them to the appropriate press controller.

Making high-quality products cost-effectively by deep drawing calls for a process which is error-free and of reproducible design. This is not possible without information relevant to the process being available in real time. This information coupled with the appropriate automatic control procedures makes dynamic process control possible. Currently this requirement is only inadequately met. As a rule information about the position and current shape of the workpieces is either not available at all during the forming process or can only be obtained with sufficient accuracy by expending a great deal of technical effort. The thin-film modules developed as part of the ORUM project are used for the direct dimensional monitoring of forming progress since the coating systems are in immediate contact with the workpiece which is to be formed.

The multifunctional thin-film sensor system has outstanding piezoresistive and tribological properties. This means that for the first time measurements can be taken in direct frictional contact with the workpiece. During the deep drawing process, the sheet metal moves gradually out of the contact areas of the individual sensor structures. The moment contact with a sensor structure is lost, a minimum level of sensor resistance is detected and this is registered by the measurement system.

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Image: First Solar

Researchers have shown that a Raman signal can be enhanced by using 55 nm gold particles coated with 2 nm silica or alumina film. A new enhancement technique was developed by Zhong Qun Tian, Xiamen University and Zhong Lin Wang of Georgia Institute of Technology. The technique is called Shell-Isolated Nanoparticles-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy or SHINERS. The technique enhances the signal with each particle behaving like an independent probe.  Such technology could lead to hand-helddevices which could be used for rapid chemical detection. The results are published in Nature (Letters) 464, pp392-395, 18 March, 2010.

Further information is at : http://www.nanoscience.gatech.edu/zlwang/paper/2010/10_Nature_01.pdf

By Tesuo Nozawa, Tech-On Newsletter, April 1, 2010

The day is coming fast when photovoltaic cells will finally leave the "incubator," spreading like wildfire. The spread of renewable energy purchasing systems and massive financial incentives have set the stage for solar cells in not only homes and condos, but in offices, factories and more as well.

"We will realize grid parity in photovoltaic cells as soon as we possibly can," says Toshishige Hamano, Representative Directors and Executive Vice Presidents of Sharp Corp. of Japan.

For companies and personnel involved in the new energy business, such as solar cells, "grid parity" has become top priority.

The term refers to bring the electricity cost from renewable energy sources (solar cells, wind power and the like) down to the level that electricity prices will be equivalent to the existing commercial power grid.

If grid parity is achieved with solar cells, for example, it would mean an increasing number of individuals and organizations would install photovoltaic power generating systems even without financial incentives. This would in turn lower the purchase and installation costs for solar cells even more, creating a positive feedback loop... and that could abruptly accelerate the speed of adoption for solar cells in the market. Solar cells are on the verge of leaving the incubator, and spreading like wildfire to everywhere the sun shines.

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