Prof. Ming Lee Tang and her colleagues from the University of California, Riverside have developed a promising new material for photonic devices utilizing hybrid materials composed of inorganic semiconductor nanocrystals and organic acene molecules. The material allows for photon upconversion, a promising wavelength shifting technology for photon management. This multi-photon process has potential applications in biological imaging, photocatalysis and photovoltaics. Regarding solar energy systems, the conversion of low energy near-infrared (NIR) photons to higher energy photons is particularly appealing, considering NIR radiation comprises 53% of the solar spectrum. Current solar panels are greatly limited in efficiency due to this. Reshaping the solar spectrum to match the optical properties of common semiconductors will allow the efficient use of all incident light. This holds the potential to solve the largest issue that current solar panel systems face.

UCLA researchers in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering have developed a perovskite-embedded organogel with superior water stability and versatile design and mechanical properties.

UCLA researchers in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering have developed a novel lead halide perovskite solar cell based on a mixture of formamidinium perovskites and 2D perovskites.

A new covalent organic framework (COF) with defective square lattice topology and exceptional water sorption properties stemming fro its unique framework structure. The COF exhibits a working capacity of 0.23 g(H2O)/g(COF) between 20 and 40% relative humidity without displaying hysteretic behavior. Furthermore, it maintains these promising water sorption properties after several uptake and release cycles. This material could be used as a sorbent for water harvesting or other water sorption related applications.

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Many industries, such as solar cells and energy storage, will be greatly benefited by high-gain step-up/step-down converters.UCI researchers have developed a family of hybrid boosting converters (HBC) that combine a base bipolar voltage multiplier (BVM) and one of several possible inductive switching cores to address various converter functionalities.

Switched capacitor converters, which provide high-gain voltage conversion, have drawbacks that have limited their use to specific applications. UCI researchers have developed a family of two-switch boosting switched-capacitor converters (TBSC) that enables the use of switched-capacitor converters in low cost and small-size applications as well as on-chip integration.

UCLA researchers in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering have developed a novel multi-point, multi-access thermal energy storage system.

Researchers at the University of California, Davis and Carnegie Mellon University have developed a new design and fabrication method for high pressure heat exchangers (HX) using additive manufacturing (AM). This method would allow for the creation of primary heat exchanger (PHX) systems with minimal energy loss.

   Researchers at UCI have, for the first time, developed a method for modeling the efficiencies of artificial photosynthetic devices containing multiple light absorbers. As these devices more closely parallel naturally occurring photosynthesis, they offer higher performance than standard single-absorber devices.

UCLA researchers in the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry have developed an approach for synthesizing nitrogen-containing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons with high yield.

Researchers at UCLA have developed an underground drilled shaft concept for storage of hydrogen or other gases.

UCLA researchers in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering have developed Perovskite/Cu(In, Ga)Se2 (PVSK/CIGS) tandem photovoltaic devices with ~22% efficiency.

Researchers at UCI have developed a compact device for the rapid desalination of water which is driven entirely by renewable solar energy.

Silicon photovoltaic (“Si-PV”) modules currently dominate the solar energy market. Increased progress into Si-PV efficiency enhancements combined with historically low module costs aim to decrease the overall Levelized Cost of Electricity (“LCOE”) to a point competitive with non-renewable energy sources. Despite recent LCOE reductions, Si-PV technology remains economically inferior to fossil fuels. Additionally, flat-plate Si solar modules generally require geographical locations with high direct normal incidence (“DNI”) sunlight conditions in order to maintain module performance. Both the strict DNI requirement and the high LCOE of Si-PV cells ultimately limit the dissemination of solar power into the global energy market. A solution for the capturing of diffuse sunlight includes the use of optical concentrators.  One class of optical concentrators includes luminescent solar concentrators (“LSCs”).  Luminescent solar concentrators have garnered interest due to their ability to utilize diffuse light and their potential for use in architectural applications such as large area power-generating windows. However, LSCs have not yet reached commercialization for photovoltaic power generation, largely due to their comparatively low power conversion efficiencies (“PCEs”) and lack of scalability.     Researchers at UC Berkeley and other educational institutions have developed luminescent solar concentrators that  can be designed to minimize photon thermalization losses and incomplete light trapping using various novel components and techniques.

UCLA researchers in the Department of Electrical Engineering have invented a novel graphene-polymer nanocomposite material for flexible transparent conductive electrode (TCE) applications.

Reducing reflection from surfaces is very important for improving the efficiency of solar cells and photodetectors, producing improved optical displays with less glare as well as coatings for high power optical applications. Without anti-reflection (AR), semiconductor surfaces reflect 30-40% of incident light and glass reflects 10-20% even at normal incidence and >70% with large incident angles.  Traditional methods for achieving anti-reflection are through thin film AR coating. The traditional AR coating is designed to be a quarter-wavelength in thickness (typically 50-100 nm) and has refractive index equal to the geometric mean of the two refractive indices of the media between which antireflection is desired. Antireflection is achieved using destructive interference and is necessarily a narrow-band and narrow-angle effect. The anti-reflective performance deteriorates as incidence angle increases and is particularly severe beyond 40-50 degrees. This is a major issue in the presence of diffuse light, which is the case in any realistic environment.  Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley have developed a novel  Nanocone Metasurface that is able to address what AR coating is unable to do at high incident angles. This method significantly augments the properties of a traditional thin film AR coating. A nanocone array is made of silicon nitride sitting on a thin silicon nitride layer. This underlying layer is similar to a traditional thin film AR coating. Underneath the nanocone metasurface is a indium gallium phosphide absorber. The nanocone metasurface serves as an omni-directional anti-reflection coating thereby collecting light from all directions.

The invention is a specialized membrane that absorbs solar energy to directly drive desalination of salt water. Compared to state of the art devices, the invention is capable of bypassing the inefficient conversion from electronic energy to ionic energy, saving up to 85% of the energy required by other state of the art electrodialysis cells.

Researchers at the University of California, Davis have developed a novel design for a solar power converter. The system uses an efficient selective absorber to harvest solar radiation.

Researchers at the University of California, Davis have developed a novel method of desalination without an external power source.

UCLA researchers in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering have developed a novel transparent and flexible electrode material for optoelectronic device applications.

UCLA researchers in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering have developed a novel lead halide perovskite solar cell with a metal oxide charge transport layer.

UCLA researchers in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering have developed a novel hybrid organic-inorganic solar cell that has a power conversion efficiency of ~10.5%.

UCLA researchers in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering have developed novel tandem transparent and semi-transparent organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices.

UCLA researchers in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering have developed a novel composite material made of metal oxide nanoparticles (NPs) and silver nanowires (AgNWs).