LOS ANGELES (CNNMoney.com ) −− In a construction van winding through Los Angeles´ crowded streets one hot spring morning, 25−year old Tim Morris laid bare his contribution to changing America´s dirty, fossil fuel-based economy.

"I´d like to see America and the world become sustainable, " said Morris, a transplant from Flint, Mich., who´s been in L.A. just a little over four months. "Solar is the biggest difference I can make with what´s on the market."

Polymers provide extraordinary opportunities for creating conducting and semi-conducting thin films that can be integrated into flexible, paper-thin devices. This work uses new, scalable chemical vapor deposition techniques developed at MIT to fabricate solvent-free polymer thin films and use them in combination with inorganic materials to create prototypes of efficient and environmentally stable PVs. Using these novel deposition methods, the research team will systematically tune properties of the deposited thin films; create coatings of uniform thickness over large areas, including the irregular surfaces of flexible substrates; and achieve high purity of materials and precise interface definition. This low-cost, low-temperature, low-energy-consumption technique can also be used to deposit films that are integrated into devices in which layers of nanomaterials combine to boost efficiency.

Large investment could jump−start concentrated photovoltaic deployments.

A California−based startup, Amonix>, has received $129 million in venture−capital investments to further its commercialization of concentrated photovoltaic technology. The company´s product combines powerful lenses, a tracking system, and solar cells for large, highly efficient solar−power installations. The funding could give the company, and the emerging field of concentrated photovoltaics, the boost it needs for widespread utility−scale deployments.

"We´ve looked at 100 solar companies in the last 18 months, and Amonix is the one that stood out to us as having breakout potential," says Ben Kortlang, a partner at venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, which led the recent investment.

A simple chemical treatment could replace expensive antireflective solar cell coatings, bringing down the cost of crystalline silicon panels. The treatment, a one−step dip in a chemical bath, creates a highly antireflective layer of black silicon on the surface of silicon wafers, and it would cost just pennies per watt, say researchers at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). They've used it to create black silicon solar cells that match the efficiency of conventional silicon cells on the market.

The crystalline silicon wafers used to make today´s solar cells are treated to create a textured surface, then coated with an antireflective layer, usually silicon nitride, using high-vacuum processes. This additional layer increases the value of a solar cell by improving its efficiency−−it suppress reflection so that more photons actually enter the silicon wafer instead of bouncing off its surface, increasing the flow of electricity off the cell. But the extra layer also adds to the expense. "We believe it can be cheaper," says Howard Branz, principle scientist in silicon materials and devices at NREL. Even with a coating, the best−quality silicon solar cells typically reflect 3 percent of the light that hits them. Branz´s lab is developing inexpensive ways to create black silicon, which reflects almost no light.

US researchers have designed a new silicon−based solar cell which uses 100 times less silicon than conventional photovoltaic devices. The system relies on the geometry of the silicon being reconfigured from a flat wafer to arrays of tiny silicon rods aligned vertically on the cell.

Currently silicon solar cells are fabricated on brittle wafers of silicon around 100−200 micrometres thick. While these can be relatively efficient in terms of conversion of light energy to electrical energy − up to 25 per cent − relatively large quantities of silicon material are needed, which is a significant part of the cost of the device.

Solar panels nowadays are flat, but folding them in origami−like ways could help dramatically boost the amount of power they could generate, scientists say.

Research into solar or photovoltaic panels thus far have kept them flat largely to prevent them from casting any shadows that might diminish the amount of light they could harvest. Two−dimensional panels are also far easier to install on rooftops and are well suited to standard large−scale fabrication techniques.

While IBM is primarily known for its information technology products, the company has recently begun expanding into the alternative energy market. So far, that change has mainly taken the form of a new ad campaign. But IBM is now backing those words up with action, by unveiling a groundbreaking solar cell, 40 percent more efficient than any similar cells.

The cells operate at a power conversion efficiency of 9.6 percent. And while that isn´t that high, the cells use only common elements like copper, zinc, tin, sulfur, and selenium. By comparison, the most efficient common earth element solar cell on the market today only operates at 6.7 percent efficiency.

(CNN) −− The price of power has always been a political issue −− but now campaigners argue it could be the key to starting a green energy revolution.

On February 1, the British Government announced details of the rates that will be paid for renewable power generated by homeowners and communities.

Solar on the go: Flexible dye—sensitized solar panels incorporated into this bag make it capable of recharging electronic gadgets. Credit: Mascotte Industrial Associates

The first commercial product to incorporate dye—sensitized thin—film solar cells will soon be on the market. Backpacks coated with the cheap, lightweight, and flexible solar cell, for on—the—go recharging of portable gadgets, were unveiled at the Hong Kong Electronics Fair last week.

The solar cells, made by Cardiff, U.K.—based G24 Innovations, are based on technology invented by Michael Grätzel, a chemistry professor at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in Switzerland...(more)

THE main way for homes to harness solar power today is through bulky panels added to the rooftop or mounted on the ground.

But companies are now offering alternatives to these fixed installations, in the less conspicuous form of shingles, tiles and other building materials that have photovoltaic cells sealed within them...(more)

* Producers ramped up polysilicon production
* PV companies pursued designs with less silicon.

The price of solar panels could fall by as much as 40 per cent by the end of the year as huge increases in polysilicon supplies lead to a sizable fall in production costs for solar panel manufacturers...(more)