Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Dec 31, 2025 The intermittent output of solar power creates challenges for grid operators who must keep supply and demand in balance. Traditional numerical weather prediction models often handle cloud initialization poorly, which degrades ultra-short-term solar irradiance forecasts over time. Researchers Min Chen and Liangchen Guo of the Institute of Urban Meteorology at the China Meteorological Admini

Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Jan 01, 2026 Researchers at the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have engineered an optimized electron transport layer for inverted perovskite solar cells that raises both power conversion efficiency and operational stability. The work, led by Prof. Pan Xu at the Institute of Solid State Physics, focuses on controlling the behavior of the fullerene derivative PCBM at th

Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Jan 01, 2026 A team of materials scientists has developed a bio based carbon aerogel derived from chitin that improves thermal energy storage in shape stabilized phase change materials while addressing leakage during melting. Phase change materials store and release heat as they melt and solidify, so they are used in building temperature control, solar thermal storage, and electronic thermal management

Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Dec 26, 2025 Researchers at Tohoku University have developed a covalently bridged fullerene framework that allows carbon-based lithium-ion battery anodes to store lithium in a more stable configuration while supporting fast charging. The new material, designated Mg4C60, connects fullerene (C60) molecules through covalent bridges, creating a layered structure that resists structural collapse and loss of activ

Ganzhou, China (AFP) Dec 21, 2025 Buried in the reddish soil of southern China lies latent power: one of the largest clusters of crucial rare earths is mined around the clock by a secretive and heavily guarded industry. The hills of Jiangxi province are home to most of China's rare earth mines, with the materials used in a wide range of products including smartphones and missile guidance technology. The flourishing indus

Sydney, Australia (SPX) Dec 19, 2025 Researchers at the National University of Singapore (NUS) have developed a vapour-deposition process that significantly enhances the long-term and high-temperature stability of perovskite-silicon (Si) tandem solar cells. The work demonstrates vapour deposition on industrial micrometre-textured silicon wafers, matching the wafer structures used in commercial solar manufacturing and moving tandem

Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Dec 18, 2025 Researchers in South Korea have demonstrated that a bilayer tin oxide electron transport layer can raise the efficiency and stability of back-contact perovskite solar cells while addressing key interfacial loss mechanisms. Back-contact perovskite solar cells place the perovskite absorber at the top of the device stack so that incoming light reaches the active layer directly, while electron

Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Dec 17, 2025 Researchers at Chonnam National University in the Republic of Korea report that a nanometer scale germanium oxide layer can address a longstanding bottleneck in tin monosulfide thin film solar cells by improving the rear contact interface with the metal electrode. They focused on tin monosulfide, or SnS, a non toxic and low cost absorber that uses earth abundant elements and avoids indium, galli

Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Dec 16, 2025 Flexible perovskite solar modules are emerging as a candidate for lightweight, bendable photovoltaics, but maintaining high efficiency while preserving long term stability and low cost remains difficult. A research team from the Institute of Metal Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Zhengzhou University reports flexible perovskite solar modules with power conversion efficiency exceed

Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Dec 14, 2025 Researchers from Beijing Normal University and Qingdao University have developed a nonfused ring electron acceptor (NFREA) called TT-Ph-C6 that improves the performance of thick-film organic solar cells. The material targets limitations in film-thickness tolerance and fill factor that have held back NFREAs compared with fused-ring acceptors. The team, led by Prof. Zhishan Bo, Prof. Cuihong

Torrance CA (SPX) Dec 16, 2025 In 1853, Commodore Matthew Perry sailed four coal-powered warships into Edo Bay and pointed their cannons at Japan. The ships belched black smoke, rattled the shoreline, and terrified a nation that had never seen industrial warfare up close. Perry called it diplomacy. The Japanese called them the Kurofune - the Black Ships. They worked. Japan opened its ports, not because it agreed,

Berlin, Germany (SPX) Dec 14, 2025 Researchers in Munich and international partners have raised the efficiency of perovskite-silicon tandem solar cells to 31.4 percent by tailoring the molecular contacts at the interface between the absorber and charge collection layers. The team reports the result in the journal Joule and notes that the tandem cell was manufactured entirely in the Munich region on crystalline silicon bottom cell