Conductive smart hydrogels as battery electrolytes: Promising for lithium, sodium, and zinc-ion chemistries
Hydrogels offer promise in batteries as an electrolyte, including lithium and sodium chemistries, due to being inherently more safe.
All emerging cyber threats targeting power infrastructure at a glance
Researchers in Moroco analyzed cybersecurity challenges in smart grids, highlighting AI-driven detection and defense strategies against threats like distributed denial-of-service, false data injection replay, and IoT-based attacks. They recommend multi-layered protections, real-time anomaly detection, secure IoT devices, and staff training to enhance resilience and safeguard power system operations.
The impact of annealing on copper-plated heterojunction solar cells
A UNSW-led team found that annealing conditions significantly affect stress, strain, and microstructure in copper-plated heterojunction solar cell contacts, with fast annealing increasing microstrain in both copper and indium tin oxide.
New Time targets large-scale perovskite production in Italy
New Time has outlined a four-year roadmap to industrialize perovskite solar cells in Italy, with pilot production planned within three years and full-scale output to follow.
How much agrivoltaic shading is enough
Spanish researchers found that semi-transparent silicon PV greenhouses boosted tomato fruit weight by 25% while generating 726.8 kWh over two seasons, outperforming cadmium telluride PV and shaded controls. The PV-Si system balanced sunlight, temperature, and energy, showing strong agrivoltaic potential.
Agratas advances 20 GWh battery plant in western India
Agratas, the global battery business of the Tata Group, has completed the steel frame of its Sanand facility in India, with production expected to begin in 2027.
Bauer Solar launches 480 W back-contact solar module
The German manufacturer said its new back-contact solar panel has a power conversion efficiency of up to 23.52%.
New intrusion detection systems boost protection of SCADA systems against cyber threats
An international reserch team developed two deep learning-based IDS models to enhance cybersecurity in SCADA systems. The hybrid approach reportedly improves detection of complex and novel cyber threats with high accuracy, adaptability, and efficiency, outperforming traditional methods across multiple datasets.
Copper, indium, selenium micro-islands pave the way for next-gen micro-concentrator solar cells
A German research team has developed CuInSe₂ micro-concentrator solar cells using laser-assisted metal-organic chemical vapor deposition to grow indium islands directly on molybdenum-coated glass, forming absorber arrays without masks or patterning. The not-yet-optimized micro-modules achieved up to 0.65% efficiency under one sun, with gains of up to 250% under concentrated illumination.
Spin-flip emitters could control energy pathways in singlet fission solar cells
Japanese researchers developed a molybdenum-based spin-flip emitter that efficiently harvests triplet excitons from singlet-fission tetracene dimers, producing strong near-infrared emission. This approach could boost solar cell efficiency and enable new quantum technologies by converting otherwise “dark” excitons into usable light.
