Researchers at CHOSE (Centre for Hybrid and Organic Solar Energy) at University of Rome ‘‘Tor Vergata’’ and Solertix (affiliated with Italy-based solar manufacturer FuturaSun) have reported reduced yield losses in cell-to-module scaling by utilizing ultranarrow interconnection of 19.5 μm. 

In addition, the proposed interconnection technique may be used to achieve a 30% efficiency in area-matched 4T tandem designs featuring a perovskite module over a silicon cell.

According to reports by the Ural Federal University (UrFU), a consortium of universities in Russia has won a grant to create solar panels that could work in space for at least 20 years. 

The work will be carried out in 2024-2026. The total amount of financing will be about 300 million rubles (over USD$3,300,000). The purpose of the grant is to create solar panels capable of operating in conditions of cosmic radiation, with a high efficiency and energy efficiency.

Researchers from Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU) and Helmholtz Institute Erlangen-Nürnberg for Renewable Energies (HI ERN) have developed a new recycling method for MAPbI₃ perovskite solar cells that uses a layer-by-layer solvent extraction technique. This process has shown the potential to recycle up to 99.97% of the material, aiming to reduce waste and conserve resources. 

The technique involves separating each layer of the solar cell, followed by processes to purify or modify the materials so they can be reused.

TandemPV has announced that it was selected to receive a $4.7 million award from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) to pursue commercialization of its thin-film solar photovoltaic technology. 

The selected project will help TandemPV prove out its pairing of conventional silicon solar with perovskite materials for panels that have the potential to be up to 40% more powerful than those used today.

Researchers from Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST) and Institute for Basic Science (IBS) have developed a perovskite-based camera, inspired by the structures and functions of birds' eyes, specializing in object detection. 

Schematic illustration showing the visual ecology of birds. Image from Science Robotics

The eyes of different organisms in the natural world have evolved and been optimized to suit their habitat and the environment in which they survive. As a result of countless years of evolutionary adaptation to the environment of living and flying at high altitudes, bird eyes also have unique structures and visual functions. In the retina of an animal's eye, there is a small pit called the fovea that refracts the light entering the eye. Unlike the shallow foveae found in human eyes, bird eyes have deep central foveae, which refract the incoming light to a large extent. The region of the highest cone density lies within the foveae, allowing the birds to clearly perceive distant objects through magnification. This specialized vision is known as foveated vision.

Protonic ceramic fuel cells (PCFCs) have attracted much attention lately. These devices do not operate via the conduction of oxide ions (O²⁻) but light protons (H⁺) with smaller valence. A key feature of PCFCs is their ability to function at low and intermediate temperatures in the range of 50–500 °C. However, PCFCs based on perovskite electrolytes reported thus far suffer from low proton conductivity at low and intermediate temperatures.

A research team, led by Professor Masamoto Yashima from Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech), in collaboration with High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK), has set out to address this limitation of perovskite-based proton conductors.