Oak Ridge Today

ORNL technologies receive six R&D 100 Awards

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Using the Atomic Forge, Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers brought two, three, and four silicon atoms together to build clusters (green) and make them rotate within a layer of graphene (blue). (Image courtesy ORNL)

Using the Atomic Forge, Oak Ridge National Laboratory researchers brought two, three, and four silicon atoms together to build clusters (green) and make them rotate within a layer of graphene (blue). (Image courtesy ORNL)

 

By Shelby Whitehead and Sean Simoneau

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory have received six R&D 100 Awards in recognition of their significant advancements in science and technology, a press release said. The honorees were recognized over the weekend at the 56th annual R&D 100 Conference, which is sponsored by R&D Magazine.

The awards, known as the “Oscars of Invention,” honor research and development pioneers and their revolutionary breakthroughs in materials science, biomedicine, consumer products, and more from academia, industry, and government-sponsored research agencies, the press release said. This year’s six honors bring ORNL’s total of R&D 100 awards to 216 since their inception in 1963.

ORNL researchers were recognized for the following innovations: [Read more…]

‘Atomic switcheroo’ explains origins of thin-film solar cell mystery

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Current Maps

Cross-sectional electron beam-induced current maps show the difference in cadmium telluride solar cells before (pictured above) and after (below) cadmium chloride treatment. The increased brightness after treatment indicates higher current collection at the grain boundaries. (Submitted photo)

Treating cadmium-telluride (CdTe) solar cell materials with cadmium-chloride improves their efficiency, but researchers have not fully understood why. Now, an atomic-scale examination of the thin-film solar cells led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory has answered this decades-long debate about the materials’ photovoltaic efficiency increase after treatment.

A research team from ORNL, the University of Toledo, and the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory used electron microscopy and computational simulations to explore the physical origins of the unexplained treatment process. The results are published in Physical Review Letters, or PRL.

Thin-film CdTe solar cells are considered a potential rival to silicon-based photovoltaic systems because of their theoretically low cost per power output and ease of fabrication. Their comparatively low historical efficiency in converting sunlight into energy, however, has limited the technology’s widespread use, especially for home systems. [Read more…]