Innovation & Recognition, February 2012

In a recent journal article from Nature Photonics, UCLA engineers detail their work “enhancing polymer solar cells’ performance by building a device with a new ‘tandem’ structure that combines multiple cells with different absorption bands.”

The device set a new record for power-conversion efficiency of 10.6 percent, certified by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Click here for more information, including how the use of “a new infrared-absorbing polymer material” increased the energy-conversion.

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Transmission & Distribution World reported that five Con Edison engineers were recently recognized “for their research to improve the transmission of high-voltage electricity.” Matt Koenig, NY O ’80, was one of the recipients of the Technology Transfer Award given by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI).

Koenig is section manager in transmission planning and is cited for improving efficiency and maintaining reliability of the transmission system. Read the article

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A team of Stanford engineers has published a paper “demonstrating a promising new nanowire welding technique that harnesses plasmonics to fuse the wires with a simple blast of light.” The article from CleanTechnica profiles the physics of plasmonics, “the interaction of light and metal in which the light flows across the surface of the metal in waves.”

The applications for this new technology are far-reaching, including electronic devices, solar, and LEDs.

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