Fresh Science

A new light-absorbing ink heralds the possibility of solar cells that require little more than a printer. Dr Anthony Chesman, a CSIRO scientist, has developed an ink that could print solar cells on plastic and metal foils, opening up the possibility of lightweight, cheap and easy-to-install solar power. “We imagine a future where durable solar…

Soccer ball-like molecules may help improve the performance of plastic solar cells, which could be used as the next-generation energy source, a Melbourne physicist says. Yaou Smets, a PhD student at La Trobe University, and his colleagues from Australian Synchrotron and University of Kaiserslautern, Germany, used a small amount of fluorinated C60-buckyballs to understand the…

Australian researchers have invented nanotech solar cells that are thin, flexible and use 1/100th the materials of conventional solar cells. Printable, flexible solar cells that could dramatically decrease the cost of renewable energy have been developed by PhD student Brandon MacDonald in collaboration with his colleagues from CSIRO’s Future Manufacturing Flagship and the University of…

Imagine printing your own room lighting, lasers, or solar cells from inks you buy at the local newsagent. Jacek Jasieniak and his colleagues at CSIRO, the University of Melbourne and the University of Padua in Italy, have moved a step closer to such a future, by developing liquid inks to print devices known as quantum dots.