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

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Dec 16, 2025 Mounting solar panels above crop fields can improve working conditions for farmworkers as well as produce food and electricity on the same land, according to research to be presented at the AGU 2025 Annual Meeting in New Orleans. Worker interviews and field measurements indicate that agrivoltaic systems provide shade, reduce exposure to extreme heat, and help farms avoid conditions associated wi

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Dec 11, 2025 Overview Energy has revealed an airborne power-beaming demonstration that transmitted energy from a moving aircraft to a ground receiver 5 kilometers below, marking its second major step toward delivering grid-scale solar power from space. The test used the same optics and laser chain planned for space operations and showed that the system can send power via near-infrared light from an air

Berlin, Germany (SPX) Dec 11, 2025 Perovskite solar cells can be made more robust, efficient, scalable and cheaper to manufacture by replacing indium tin oxide with single-walled carbon nanotubes in the device architecture, according to research led by the University of Surrey. The team reports that substituting indium tin oxide, a fragile and costly photovoltaic material, with single-walled carbon nanotubes could support flexibl