New Freeloader Solar Charger Puts the Power of the Sun in Your Hands
Gloucestershire, UK – In today’s society, it’s virtually impossible to go a day without use of a cell-phone, MP3 player, or digital camera. With that dependence on hand-held technology and lifestyles that are becoming increasingly on-the-go, a dead battery is a very real nuisance and searching for an outlet to recharge can be an insurmountable burden. Recognizing the demand for convenient and affordable power sources, Solar Technology International is launching its line of Freeloader Solar Chargers, which harness the power of the sun, in the United States.
By channeling power to Li-ion batteries through its solar panels, the Freeloader Solar Chargers are able to reliably power any hand-held device anywhere, anytime—essentially freeloading power from the Sun. Solar Technology International offers three different versions of the Freeloader, all of them providing a sleek, compact design along with an environmentally conscious mentality.
“Being able to free load the energy from the sun, and use that to power all of the gadgets that we use day-today; that is our vision,” says Adrian Williams, President of Solar Technology International. “We provide that with the Freeloader. It’s something that everyone from techies to greenies to anyone who is constantly on the go can appreciate.”
New to the US, the standard Freeloader appears as a stylish aluminum body the size of a cellular phone. Utilizing two 120mA solar cells, the standard Freeloader can charge the 1000mA lithium-ion battery in as little as eight hours. The standard Freeloader can power an iPod for 18 hours, a mobile phone for 44 hours, a PSP for 2.5 hours, a PDA for 22 hours and much more. MSRP $59.99 USD.
New for the worldwide marketplace, and designed to provide free and infinite power to almost all portable electronic devices, the FreeLoader Pro is the perfect eco-friendly, pocket sized partner for an endless array of gadgets such as mobile/smartphones (including the iPhone and Blackberry), mobile gaming devices, MP3 players, GPS devices, e-books, PDAs, and more. Included with the Freeloader PRO is the CamCaddy accessory, which gives the Freeloader PRO the unique ability to charge compact digital, DSLR and video camera batteries. The Freeloader PRO uses two 200mA solar cells to power a 1600mAh lithium-ion battery which can provide a mobile phone with 70 hours of standby time, 5,000 page turns on an eBook, or fully charge a digital camera battery. MSRP $119.99 USD
Also completely new for the worldwide market, the Freeloader PICO is the ideal travel buddy for virtually any portable electronic device. Boasting an extremely lightweight and tiny design, the Freeloader PICO can provide enough power to keep a mobile phone running for 35 hours or an iPod for 14 hours. When fully charged, the PICO will charge a gadget in just 30 minutes using one 75mA solar panel which powers an 800mA li-ion battery. MSRP $29.99 USD
The Freeloader Solar Chargers are currently available for purchase at www.freeloadersolar.com and will be at select retailers nationwide starting May 1, 2010.
About Solar Technology International
Solar Technology International designs and produces a range of solar products that allows users to harness solar energy. The solar panels capture the sun’s energy and convert it to electrical current to power a range of appliances. Solar Technology’s panels use Crystalline silicon technology, the latest in solar technology to harness power which is more efficient than amorphous or thin film solutions, particularly in lower light conditions. To find out more about Solar Technology’s product range, please visit: www.freeloadersolar.com
Caltech Researchers Create Highly Absorbing, Flexible Solar Cells with Silicon Wire Arrays
PASADENA, Calif. (2/14/10) Using arrays of long, thin silicon wires embedded in a polymer substrate, a team of scientists from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) has created a new type of flexible solar cell that enhances the absorption of sunlight and efficiently converts its photons into electrons. The solar cell does all this using only a fraction of the expensive semiconductor materials required by conventional solar cells.
“These solar cells have, for the first time, surpassed the conventional light-trapping limit for absorbing materials,” says Harry Atwater, Howard Hughes Professor, professor of applied physics and materials science, and director of Caltech’s Resnick Institute, which focuses on sustainability research.
The light-trapping limit of a material refers to how much sunlight it is able to absorb. The silicon-wire arrays absorb up to 96 percent of incident sunlight at a single wavelength and 85 percent of total collectible sunlight. “We’ve surpassed previous optical microstructures developed to trap light,” he says.
Atwater and his colleagues—including Nathan Lewis, the George L. Argyros Professor and professor of chemistry at Caltech, and graduate student Michael Kelzenberg—assessed the performance of these arrays in a paper appearing in the February 14 advance online edition of the journal Nature Materials.
Atwater notes that the solar cells’ enhanced absorption is “useful absorption.”
“Many materials can absorb light quite well but not generate electricity—like, for instance, black paint,” he explains. “What’s most important in a solar cell is whether that absorption leads to the creation of charge carriers.”
The silicon wire arrays created by Atwater and his colleagues are able to convert between 90 and 100 percent of the photons they absorb into electrons—in technical terms, the wires have a near-perfect internal quantum efficiency. “High absorption plus good conversion makes for a high-quality solar cell,” says Atwater. “It’s an important advance.”
The key to the success of these solar cells is their silicon wires, each of which, says Atwater, “is independently a high-efficiency, high-quality solar cell.” When brought together in an array, however, they’re even more effective, because they interact to increase the cell’s ability to absorb light.
“Light comes into each wire, and a portion is absorbed and another portion scatters. The collective scattering interactions between the wires makes the array very absorbing,” he says.
This effect occurs despite the sparseness of the wires in the array—they cover only between 2 and 10 percent of the cell’s surface area.
“When we first considered silicon wire-array solar cells, we assumed that sunlight would be wasted on the space between wires,” explains Kelzenberg. “So our initial plan was to grow the wires as close together as possible. But when we started quantifying their absorption, we realized that more light could be absorbed than predicted by the wire-packing fraction alone. By developing light-trapping techniques for relatively sparse wire arrays, not only did we achieve suitable absorption, we also demonstrated effective optical concentration—an exciting prospect for further enhancing the efficiency of silicon-wire-array solar cells.”
Each wire measures between 30 and 100 microns in length and only 1 micron in diameter. “The entire thickness of the array is the length of the wire,” notes Atwater. “But in terms of area or volume, just 2 percent of it is silicon, and 98 percent is polymer.”
In other words, while these arrays have the thickness of a conventional crystalline solar cell, their volume is equivalent to that of a two-micron-thick film.
Since the silicon material is an expensive component of a conventional solar cell, a cell that requires just one-fiftieth of the amount of this semiconductor will be much cheaper to produce.
The composite nature of these solar cells, Atwater adds, means that they are also flexible. “Having these be complete flexible sheets of material ends up being important,” he says, “because flexible thin films can be manufactured in a roll-to-roll process, an inherently lower-cost process than one that involves brittle wafers, like those used to make conventional solar cells.”
Atwater, Lewis, and their colleagues had earlier demonstrated that it was possible to create these innovative solar cells. “They were visually striking,” says Atwater. “But it wasn’t until now that we could show that they are both highly efficient at carrier collection and highly absorbing.”
The next steps, Atwater says, are to increase the operating voltage and the overall size of the solar cell. “The structures we’ve made are square centimeters in size,” he explains. “We’re now scaling up to make cells that will be hundreds of square centimeters—the size of a normal cell.”
Atwater says that the team is already “on its way” to showing that large-area cells work just as well as these smaller versions.
In addition to Atwater, Lewis, and Kelzenberg, the all-Caltech coauthors on the Nature Materials paper, “Enhanced absorption and carrier collection in Si wire arrays for photovoltaic applications,” are postdoctoral scholars Shannon Boettcher and Joshua Spurgeon; undergraduate student Jan Petykiewicz; and graduate students Daniel Turner-Evans, Morgan Putnam, Emily Warren, and Ryan Briggs.
Their research was supported by BP and the Energy Frontier Research Center program of the Department of Energy, and made use of facilities supported by the Center for Science and Engineering of Materials, a National Science Foundation Materials Research Science and Engineering Center at Caltech. In addition, Boettcher received fellowship support from the Kavli Neuroscience Institute at Caltech.
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Visit the Caltech Media Relations website at http://media.caltech.edu
‘Silicon ink’ for solar cells glides toward production
By Candace Lombardi, news.cnet.com
JA Solar, one of the big players in the solar industry, is working with Innovalight to commercialize the latter’s method for making silicon-ink-based, high-efficiency solar cells, the companies said this week.
Innovalight first got noticed in 2007 for perfecting a process in which it could essentially ink-jet-manufacture solar cells using a proprietary silicon ink it had developed. The solar cells are created by pouring an ink solution incorporated with silicon nanoparticles and then decanting the excess liquid to leave behind a crystalline silicon structure.
At the time of the 2007 announcement, Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Innovalight claimed its method not only resulted in solar cells that were cheaper to produce by as much as half, but that the crystalline structure resulting from the process made its cells more efficient at converting electricity.
Those claims now appear to be validated.
On Tuesday, Innovalight announced that an independent study of its method by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems in Germany confirmed that its silicon ink-based cells “demonstrated a record 18 percent conversion of efficiency.”
Shanghai, China-based JA Solar said the process will lower its production cost for this type of solar cell.
“Innovalight’s silicon ink in conjunction with JA Solar’s leadership in high-volume solar cell manufacturing with demonstrated yield, conversion efficiency, and low production costs, provides a very promising solution to enhance the conversion efficiency of solar cells utilizing our existing solar cell manufacturing lines,” Qingtang Jiang, JA Solar’s chief technology officer, said in a statement Tuesday.
JA Solar plans to further develop the process at its research and development plant in Yangzhou, a city on China’s coast about 630 miles south of Beijing.
Dye-sensitized Solar Cells To Power Air Force Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
From ScienceDaily.com
Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) are expected to power Air Force unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the future because they are an optimum energy harvesting source that may lead to longer flight times without refueling.
The University of Washington’s Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) project team, with lead researcher Dr. Minoru Taya is working on airborne solar cells by using a flexible film and a thin glass coating with transparent conductive electrodes. He has found that DSSCs made from organic materials, which use (dyes) and moth-eye film, are able to catch photons and convert them into synthesized electrons that can harvest high photon energy.
A few years ago the team mounted dye-sensitized solar cells on the wings of a toy airplane. The propeller was effectively powered, but the plane was not able to become airborne because the glass based solar cells they were using were too heavy. Upon experimentation, they decided to use film battery technology, which worked and in fact, enabled the plane to fly.
“These kinds of solar cells have more specific power convergence efficiency (PCE), very clean energy and easy scalability to a larger skin area of the craft, as well as, low-temperature processing, which leads to lower costs overall,” said Taya.
The team is currently working on DSSCs with higher PCEs using bioinspired dyes, which are installed in the wings of the UAV (airborne energy harvesters).
“Any airborne energy harvester must satisfy additional requirements, like weight and durability in airborne environments. If those are met, then there may even be longer UAV flight times,” said Taya.
Click link above for complete article.
New Jersey is now a true solar power
By Joe Tyrrell, newjerseynewsroom.com
As Congress wrestles with national energy policies and gubernatorial candidates tout their plans here, New Jersey officials say the state deserves credit as a leader in promoting solar power.
In just a few years of coordinated efforts, New Jersey has gone from a non-factor to number two among the states in solar installations connected to the power grid. While far behind California, New Jersey currently generates about twice as many solar kilowatt hours as number three Colorado.
While applauding the gains, many in the industry also say the state, like the nation, has fallen well short of performance goals. New Jersey rose to the top of solar charts in a period when there was little competition from other states.
Now, as the federal government begins to pay attention to renewable energy, New Jersey is in the midst of a challenging transition away from an easy to understand program, which gave rebates to install solar power cells.
The new program shifts the focus away from consumers to utility companies and investors by creating a marketplace for renewable energy credits. The concept has its supporters, though many are more hopeful than confident.
Still, at a time when solar businesses believe the technology is on the verge of a belated boom in the United States, recent New Jersey statistics wowed some attendees at a recent industry conference in Philadelphia.
“Making this even more remarkable is that in 2001 New Jersey had only six” solar cell installations connected to the power grid, compared to more than 4,000 today, wrote Bob Haavind of Photovoltaics World.
His report can be viewed here.
Click newjerseynewsroom.com for complete article.
Dye-sensitized Solar Cells To Power Air Force Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
From ScienceDaily.com
Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) are expected to power Air Force unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in the future because they are an optimum energy harvesting source that may lead to longer flight times without refueling.
The University of Washington’s Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) project team, with lead researcher Dr. Minoru Taya is working on airborne solar cells by using a flexible film and a thin glass coating with transparent conductive electrodes. He has found that DSSCs made from organic materials, which use (dyes) and moth-eye film, are able to catch photons and convert them into synthesized electrons that can harvest high photon energy.
A few years ago the team mounted dye-sensitized solar cells on the wings of a toy airplane. The propeller was effectively powered, but the plane was not able to become airborne because the glass based solar cells they were using were too heavy. Upon experimentation, they decided to use film battery technology, which worked and in fact, enabled the plane to fly.
Click link above for complete article.
Transparent Solar Cells Made For Windows
From ScienceDaily.com
Offering a view of the garden and an adjacent field, it looks like any other window. But this window offers an additional feature: it also produces electricity. The facades of the house, too, harness solar energy to supply the occupants with electrical power. This is what the domestic power supply of the future could look like. The surface area used to produce energy would increase greatly with transparent solar cells.
To translate the vision of see-through solar cells and transparent electronics into reality, two different transparent coatings would be required – one to conduct the electricity via electrons, the n-conductors, and one in which electron holes enable the electricity to flow, the p-conductors. To produce these coatings the engineers dope the base material with a few other atoms. Depending on which atoms they use, they obtain the differently conducting coatings. N-conducting transparent materials are state of the art, but the p-conductors are problematic. Their conductivity is too low and often their transparency is poor. Manufacturers need a transparent base material which is amenable to both n- and p-doping.
At present, indium tin oxide is mainly used for the n-conductors, but this is costly. Indium has become a rare commodity and its price has increased tenfold since 2002. The search for substitute materials is therefore in full swing. At the same time, various questions need to be answered, such as which materials would be best suitable, what they should be doped with to obtain good conductivity, and how good their transparency is. Research scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials IWM working in cooperation with other Fraunhofer colleagues have developed material physics models and methods which help in the search.
“If transparent p-conductors with adequate conductivity could be produced, it would be possible to realize completely transparent electronics,” says Dr. Wolfgang Körner, research scientist at the IWM. Using electron microscope images, the researchers initially determine the grain boundaries which most frequently occur in the material – i.e. irregularities in the ordered crystal structure. These defect structures are modeled atom by atom. Special simulation methods calculate how the electrons are distributed in the structures and thus in the solid body. From the data the researchers extract how conductive and transparent the material is. “We have found, for example, that phosphorus is suitable for p-doping zinc oxide, but that nitrogen is more promising,” says Körner.
Korean scientists develop efficient plastic-based solar cell
From Hindu.com
In a major breakthrough that can speed up commercial use of solar energy, South Korean scientists on Monday announced the development of a highly efficient plastic-based power cell that can mimic the photo-photovoltaic activities of plants.
The team led by Lee Kwang-hee at the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), said the solar cells developed by them reached an unprecedented energy efficiency rate of 6.2 per cent.
“This is the highest number reached by any single-layer plastic, organic photo-voltaic solar cell created in the world to date and should greatly help commercial use of power generation using sunlight,” Lee, a material science professor at the state-run laboratory, said.
The scientists said they used a new material that have “open circuit voltage” properties and titanium oxide to bring about high efficiency.
If fully developed the solar cells, which can easily bend, could be attached to coats, bags, various electronic appliances and building windows, Yonhap news agency reported.
The breakthrough has been confirmed by the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory and published in the latest on- line edition of international journal of Nature Photonics.
Lee said that under so-called green light conditions, the energy efficiency of the new plastic power cells reached 17 per cent, which is more than enough to start commercial power generation.
Experts said an efficiency rate of 7 per cent must be reached for plastic solar cells to become commercially viable.
Energy efficiency indicates the percentage of sunshine that solar cells turn into electricity.
Conventional inorganic silicon-based solar cells used in homes have an efficiency rate of 7 to 8 per cent, while very expensive panels placed on satellites have numbers reaching 15 per cent.
The technology, developed jointly with U.S. researchers led by Alan Heeger of the University of California, Santa Barbara, is an extension of cutting edge research carried out in the past.
The Lee-Heeger team announced in 2007 that they had built a stacked or double-layered organic photo-voltaic that had a power efficiency of 6.5 per cent.
Printable solar cells on the way
By Melanie Macfarlane, GMagazine.com.au
SYDNEY: Solar panels could soon be printed in the same way as bank notes, thanks to world-leading innovation by Australian scientists.
Researchers from the Victorian Organic Solar Cell Consortium, which includes scientists from the CSIRO in Melbourne, The University of Melbourne and Monash University have developed a new technique that could open up the door for cheap, mass produced solar cells.
“These solar cells are cutting edge technology and offer advantages over traditional solar technology,” Victorian Minister for Energy and Resources, Peter Batchelor said at the launch.
The new cells are printed onto a thin plastic which, unlike current silicon solar cells, is flexible and can easily be crafted to fit any rooftop. “The production of these film-like solar cells will be literally as easy as printing money,” Batchelor said.
Gerry Wilson, a member of the team at CSIRO Future Manufacturing Flagship said mankind has been printing for centuries and this is only one of many potential applications for “printable electronics”.
The active ingredient in the new solar cells is the thin-printed layers of light sensitive inks that absorb energy from the sun. Wilson explained that during the ongoing trial period these inks will be tested for maximum efficiency.
Currently, the printable solar cells are two to five per cent efficient, Wilson said, something they are trying to improve it “by tweaking the chemical structure” of the inks. Solar cells currently on the market range from five to 24 per cent efficiency.
CSIRO Executive Steve Morton believes the new cells are the next generation technology. “We have assembled a team of world-class scientists spanning chemistry, physics and materials science to develop the molecular building blocks which will form the basis of this solar energy revolution,” he said.
Jai Singh, a physicist from Charles Darwin University, said that while the technology is still in its infancy, it could provide a cost effective alternative energy source.
“They are cost effective because the expensive Indium Tin Oxide used in traditional solar cells will be replaced by low cost functionalised graphene layers,” he said.
The Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Senator Kim Carr said the trial was an exciting development for the industry.
“This research is at the forefront of polymer technology, which has already brought to the world the banknotes used in Australia and 21 other countries. It is an important step in building up the solar industry in Australia,” he said.
Andrew Blakers, Director of ARC Centre for Solar Energy Systems at Australian National University said any investment in the industry is always welcomed and will encourage progress in renewable energy sources.
“Australian solar industry needs to be encouraged and well funded in order for Australia to take its place as a world leader in this industry,” he said.
