Author
Mark Hutchins
Mark Hutchins is Magazine Director. He joined pv magazine in September 2016 as production editor of the monthly global title. Mark also works online reporting on upstream technology and markets, as well as newly emerging solar regions.
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Articles written by Mark Hutchins
Gallium doping keeps p-type in the frame
Scientists at Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE) have investigated gallium-doping in p-type silicon wafers as a route to better performance. Testing these specially produced p-type wafers in TOPCon and heterojunction cell architectures, which several major PV cell manufacturers are gearing up to produce on more expensive n-type wafers, the scientists found that with gallium doping, the p-type wafers can achieve similar or even better cell efficiencies compared to those made so far with n-type wafers.
Aug 11, 2022
The problem with aqueous zinc batteries
US scientists studied a zinc-manganese dioxide battery and found that hydrogen, rather than zinc-ions, move back into the manganese cathode, damaging its structure. The researchers will be able to use this knowledge to pursue new ways to improve its performance.
Aug 11, 2022
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Shell to purchase 100 MW UK portfolio from Anesco
Shell will purchase four planned PV projects totaling 100 MW in various locations across northern England. It says it will seek offtakers for the projects through its power trading team and sees strong demand in the corporate power purchase agreement sector.
Aug 10, 2022
Backward ray tracing for fast energy yield simulations
Scientists in the Netherlands have developed a model to forecast the energy yield of a PV system. It is able to take into account factors such as partial shading and multiple module orientations. Tested against a reference cell and pyranometer, the model showed less than 5% error, and the scientists claim their approach is up to three orders of magnitude faster than more common approaches using complex ray tracing.
Light-scattering structures to boost solar performance
An international team of scientists developed a nanoparticle structure which, when added to a solar cell, was shown to scatter light and potentially reflect it many times within the cell, contributing to a noticeable jump in current.
Aug 09, 2022
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Study finds 100% renewables would pay off within 6 years
New research from Stanford University researcher Mark Jacobson outlines how 145 countries could meet 100% of their business-as-usual energy needs with wind, water, solar and energy storage. The study finds that in all the countries considered, lower-cost energy and other benefits mean the required investment for transition is paid off within six years. The study also estimates that worldwide, such a transition would create 28 million more jobs than it lost.
Aug 08, 2022
N-type solar cell with aluminum-titanium passivating contact achieves 21.9% efficiency
Scientists in Australia have demonstrated a new way to apply a passivating contact layer to silicon cells. They produced an n-type cell with aluminum-titanium passivating contact and 21.9% efficiency, and claimed the technique could open up new possibilities for the use of transition metal oxides in cell passivation.
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