Topic description and stories

Solar panels

Secret to treating ‘Achilles’ heel’ of alternatives to silicon solar panels revealed

24 May 2022

A team of researchers from the UK and Japan has found that the tiny defects which limit the efficiency of perovskites – cheaper alternative materials...

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3D-printed custom electrodes

Tiny ‘skyscrapers’ help bacteria convert sunlight into electricity

07 Mar 2022

Researchers have made tiny ‘skyscrapers’ for communities of bacteria, helping them to generate electricity from just sunlight and water.

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Exterior of Bath Abbey

Historic buildings could use solar panels to protect from rising energy costs

03 Feb 2022

Installing solar panels could help historic buildings beat the rising costs of energy, according to a new study.

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Laboratory setup with lasers

Researchers identify and clear efficiency hurdle for organic solar cells

29 Sep 2021

Researchers have identified a key mechanism responsible for the lower efficiencies of organic solar cells and shown a way that this hurdle might be...

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Women in STEM: Angela Harper

02 Jan 2020

Angela Harper is a PhD candidate at the Cavendish Laboratory, a member of Churchill College, and a Gates Cambridge Scholar. Here, she tells us about...

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Cambridge Zero

26 Nov 2019

If we are to avert a climate disaster, we must sharply reduce our emissions, starting today. Cambridge Zero, the University's ambitious new climate...

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Energy

‘Carbon bubble’ coming that could wipe trillions from the global economy – study

04 Jun 2018

Macroeconomic simulations show rates of technological change in energy efficiency and renewable power are likely to cause a sudden drop in demand for...

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Image showing light emission from the polymeric nanostructures and schematic of a single nanostructure

Plastic crystals hold key to record-breaking energy transport

24 May 2018

Scientists from the Universities of Cambridge and Bristol have found a way to create plastic semiconductor nanostructures that absorb light and...

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Atomic scale view of perovskite crystal formation

Potassium gives perovskite-based solar cells an efficiency boost

21 Mar 2018

A simple potassium solution could boost the efficiency of next-generation solar cells, by enabling them to convert more sunlight into electricity.

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Venus transits the rising Sun

Mirage maker

30 Oct 2015

Aditya Sadhanala wanders over to the wall, turns a pulley, and a wooden box about a metre squared swings up and away. Below it gleams an array of...

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Tar sands, Alberta

What research would enhance business sustainability?

15 May 2015

A new project led by the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership is looking at how academic research can help make businesses more...

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Endeavour II

'Endeavour' blazes across the Outback

27 Oct 2011

The Cambridge University Solar Car Team (CUER) has completed 2011 Veolia World Solar Challenge.

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