Important Innovations Collection

Harvesting Artificial Light Source:  Kyushu University image  Innovation from Japan This is new innovation and emerging technology from Japan's Kyushu University.  The scientists altered organic photovoltaics (OPVs) to absorb artificial light.  Their system could one day enable us to charge our mobile devices with lamps. Lamp Power In tests, a four inch square array of the altered OPV panels produced 4.2 volts from ambient artificial light.  That's in the milliwatt range, too low for standard use.  But the team says they can expand on that.  This emerging technology could prove to be important as our power needs for mobile devices expand with the internet of things.

Flexible, Organic Solar Cells Developed Source:  Rice University Valuable for Constant, Low Power Generation A team of scientists led by Rice University along with Brookhaven National Lab have developed  organic, flexible solar cells.  The photovoltaics are valuable for constant, low power generation.  The scientists accomplished this breakthrough by adding a chemical reagent that provides flexibility to the material while maintaining its efficiency. Organic Value Organic solar cells are inexpensive, lightweight, semitransparent and thin.  They use carbon based material like polymers to capture sunlight as opposed to hard inorganics like silicon.  The team built in the flexibility by using the sulfur based additive thiol-ene.  They found at 20% thiol-ene the cells retained their efficiency and gained flexibility.  The results were just published in the journal Chemistry of Materials.  For more on the latest in renewable energy ...