Seeing Double for Better Solar Cells

Halide perovskite can make solar cells a thousand times thinner than today’s silicon solar cells. A new approach allows scientists to watch changes in the material’s structure and functional properties while the material solidifies into a thin film from solution. This gives new insight into how the material’s structure and functionality are related, aiding in future solar cell design.

Seeing Is Believing: Scientists Visualize Record Exciton Diffusion Length

In modern optoelectronic devices, performance depends in part on the movement of excitons. Researchers have now created a new perovskite nanocrystal system and taken direct visualizations of the movement of an exciton from crystal to crystal over a record 200 nanometers, much longer than the previous record. This paves the way for new commercial application.

Shine On: Avalanching Nanoparticles Break Barriers to Imaging Cells in Real Time

A team of researchers co-led by Berkeley Lab and Columbia University has developed a new material called avalanching nanoparticles that, when used as a microscopic probe, offers a simpler approach to taking high-resolution, real-time snapshots of a cell’s inner workings at the nanoscale.