Solar Cells

P ublic support for U.S. federal expenditures for basic research gained momentum with the science and technology breakthroughs that contributed to the Allies' victory in World War II. After World War II, the Korean and Cold Wars concentrated research appropriations in the Department of Defense (DOD). DOD research expenditures were massive from 1950 to 1990. They included not only direct investments in weapons and intelligence systems but support of the underlying science, centered in physical sciences and engineering. What is less well remembered today is that DOD's basic research investments were broadly based, ranging far beyond the physical sciences and engineering into the life and social sciences. Through its service research offices and the Advanced Research Projects agencies, DOD also fostered interdisciplinary research in promising new areas, such as computation, and developed new modes for the performance of research, as in university materials research laboratories. The large investment in the physical sciences also contributed indirectly to medical science and health care, giving rise to many technologies used today. The life sciences now account for more than 50 percent of U.S. federal investment in basic research. Biomedical research funding has followed a pattern of steady significant growth over four decades, and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have slowly come to dominate that funding. Today's strong federal support for the life sciences is warranted, because biomedical research is on the cusp of a revolution in preventative medicine and treatment. Nevertheless, today's overall research budget is increasingly out of balance. Federal funding of many fields in the physical sciences and engineering is down substantially since 1993 (9 to 36% in real terms in fields such as chemistry, physics, and electrical and chemical engineering). This loss, if continued, will imperil advances in these disciplines and endanger the continued flow of valuable discoveries and technologies that have been important to biomedical research and health care. National science and technology (S&T) policy over the past four decades has largely been led by physical scientists who first gained national experience in World War II. They crafted policies for broad investment in basic research and infrastructure, including the life sciences. As we enter the 21st century, biological scientists must assume broader leadership responsibilities in S&T policy, and they must speak out about the importance of support for all disciplines, including the physical sciences and engineering. NIH's Harold Varmus and the National Science Foundation's Rita Colwell recognize the imbalance in the current federal research portfolio and have begun advocating increased investment in all areas of research. Their leadership is to be commended, but it is not enough. Government, organizations, institutions, and industry can and should do more to bolster all basic research. NIH must set the example by much more broadly supporting innovative interdisciplinary research embracing all science, just as DOD did when it was the prime funder of R&D. Some of this has already begun in NIH's cross-institute bioengineering initiative and in prospective increased NIH support of information technology for biocomputation. Similar initiatives should be launched in other areas of the physical sciences and in the social and behavioral sciences. Funding for these initiatives should become a much larger percentage of NIH's overall expenditures. The life science professional societies must speak broadly for basic research and not just argue their own disciplinary cases. Disease advocacy groups must also articulate the case for the physical sciences in their work with the public and before Congress. University leaders and corporate executives must make the case for investment in all research disciplines. Most of all, biologists in the laboratory—working scientists and their students—need to appreciate that their research rests on the legacy not only of the life sciences but also the physical and other sciences. Today's life scientists and the next generation they are training must be the national leaders of the future who will increasingly guide all of U.S. basic research policy in the 21st century.

GUNT Hamburg is a leading manufacturer of technical equipment for engineering education. In order to promote possible technical solutions for global challenges from climate change and progressive resource depletion, the 2E division of GUNT concentrates on didactic equipment for the field of energy and environment. The close interconnection between the fields of renewable energy, energy efficiency, and environmental technologies is a fundamental aspect of the 2E concept as indicated in the scheme below. Among the environmental technologies, the water treatment field is of special importance since it is crucial for the conservation of the human habitat. The objective of 2E is to integrate the principles of sustainability into the field of technical training. A carefully thought-out spectrum of teaching and research equipment covering high-didactic demands for the energy and environment sector has been developed.

Towards smart energy systems – A survey about the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on renewable energy research

The article examines the features of renewable energy development at the macro and micro levels in Ukraine. The role of knowledge and innovation management in the field of renewable energy has been defined. The subject of the research is the processes of knowledge and innovation management at renewable energy enterprises. The purpose of the article is to identify key factors in the development of renewable energy and approaches to knowledge and innovation management at renewable energy enterprises. General scientific methods have been used, the main of which are: system analysis – application of a comprehensive two-level approach to the analysis of the role of knowledge in the field of renewable energy and correlation and regression analysis. The following results have been obtained: based on the conducted analysis, the expediency of forming an innovation infrastructure for developing such a high-tech sector as renewable energy has been justified. The application of methods and tools of knowledge and innovation management at renewable energy enterprises has been substantiated. Recommendations concerning the formation and development of a knowledge and innovation management system at renewable energy enterprises in Ukraine have been made, as this system will increase the competitiveness of renewable energy in relation to traditional one. Conclusions: the role and features of knowledge and innovation management in renewable energy enterprises are shown. Prospects for the development of renewable energy in Ukraine on the basis of knowledge and innovation management are identified.KeywordsKnowledge managementRenewable energyInnovations

Recently, renewable energy resources and their impacts have sparked a heated debate to resolve the Australian energy crisis. There are many projects launched throughout the country to improve network security and reliability. This paper aims to review the current status of different renewable energy resources along with their impacts on society and the environment. Besides, it provides for the first time the statistics of the documents published in the field of renewable energy in Australia. The statistics include information such as the rate of papers published, possible journals for finding relative paper, types of documents published, top authors, and the most prevalent keywords in the field of renewable energy in Australia. It will focus on solar, wind, biomass, geothermal and hydropower technologies and will investigate the social and environmental impacts of these technologies.

Metal oxide nanoarchitectures have a wide range of qualities that can be used to produce novel technologies in the field of renewable energy, such as energy conversion solar fuels and storage via the photovoltaic effect, and electrochemical water splitting. The approach for the synthesis of earth abundant metal oxide nanostructures is facile and cost effective and involves scalable methodologies for the development of functional devices. The composite material exhibits enhanced active edge sites for the potential HER. The electrochemical experiments revealed satisfactory results of electrocatalytic gas production HER. The composite sample produces a current density at 10 mAcm−2 an over potential of 345 mV and Tafel value of 60 mVdec−1 it exhibits at which predominantly ensures the swift charge transfer kinetics during HER. The sample 3 remains durable and stable for 30 hours. EIS shown value of 21.88 Ohms as charge transfer resistance which further strengthened HER and Tafel results. The sample 3 exhibits a 4.69 µFcm−2 capacitance double layer and surface area of 177.25 cm2 it further supports the unique productivity for HER activity. The small Tafel slope which relatively close to Pt shows a clear and high potential of as prepared MoS2/Graphite nanosheets composite material for the replacement of noble metals in the field of renewable energy. The tiny Tafel slope value suggests that the efficient hydrogen evolution reaction has a lot of promise. This developed method provides the alternative method for the development of other materials for the energy harvesting applications.

The link between energy consumption and CO2 emissions has received a significant research attention in the last few decades in the case of Turkey. The authors in general agree on the positive link between these two macroeconomic terms. However, the link between electricity generation and CO2 emissions did not receive much attention what was the motivation to conduct this study. Thus, this paper aims to provide empirical evidence on the link between these two variables while controlling for the role of the population growth. The time-series data are collected at annual basis in the period between 1974 and 2016. Our results reveal a bidirectional causal link between electricity generation and population growth. These findings imply that population growth stimulates the electricity generation. In addition, electricity generation tends to stimulate the population growth. This is since some of the countries in the World have big problems with electricity supply. It influences negatively the manufacturing sector, educational sector as well as many other sectors. Moreover, a bidirectional link between population growth and CO2 emissions are recorded. More population is expected to demand more working place, and firms especially those in industry sector are known as significant energy gluttons. The empirical evidence of this paper can serve as an important insight for decision makers. At first, it suggests the necessity to think of the possibilities to develop renewable energy in Turkey. This is since Turkey has a great potential in the fields of renewable energy. In this light, Turkey may solve the problem of the great reliance on the imported energy. Moreover, the business climate should be more favorable for investors tending to support the projects in the fields of renewable energy. Apart from these, it is of great importance to make a necessary effort to increase the energy efficiency which will reduce the current energy consumption and CO2 emission consequently. At last, it would be necessary to educate both, the private and public sector, on the benefits of renewable energy.

Professor Michael J. Pikal: Scientist, family man, educator, colleague and friend

Here we have two textbooks from the US market directed at two distinctive groups of students. The Physical Sciences is for non-science majors whereas Physics for Scientists and Engineers, as its title implies, is for science and engineering majors. Although many similar topics are covered, their styles are appropriately very different. The Physical Sciences is intended to integrate physics, chemistry and earth science. However, most of the content consists of material which we associate with physics or its borders. It contains very little mathematics. Not only is calculus excluded but the mathematical equations are kept at a very simple level, usually simple equalities and substitution of numbers. Despite the limited mathematics, the authors have included a wide range of advanced physics topics. A chapter on energy is followed by one on thermodynamics, which proceeds as far as entropy. There is a chapter on quantum mechanics where the only equation is that for Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, and there is another chapter on relativity, which includes time dilation and the equation for apparent mass of moving objects but little further mathematics. The broad scope of the book can be seen from a selection of other chapters. Physics ones include electricity and magnetism, waves and electromagnetic radiation, the atom and fundamental particles. More general chapters are introductory ones on the language of science and the development of basic classical mechanics via the ordered universe. Later ones concern chemical bonding and reactions, properties of matter, earth science, atmospheric science, geology, the stars and cosmology. It is unusual for a textbook to develop quite so many advanced concepts with such little mathematics. The text is clear and the words and illustrations are more than adequate to provide the reader with a good qualitative knowledge. In contrast, Physics for Scientists and Engineers follows a specific syllabus followed in the USA, a much tighter syllabus than the A-level and university syllabuses we see in Britain. It is written by an experienced physicist and author from California State University and is very similar in content and level to many other texts on the market. When the texts are used in the UK, it is usually for foundation year and traditional first-year university physics students, although the scope of the contents goes beyond. This is because they use calculus, but do not use higher level mathematics. Experience shows that the subtle differences in the texts only show up as one teaches from them, and even then there is wide variation of preference by both teachers and students. Physics for Scientists and Engineers covers all the usual traditional topics of physics. Thus there are extensive sections on mechanics and gravitation, thermodynamics, wave motion, electrostatics and electricity and magnetism, optics and relativity. Unusually, modern physics has been covered in a supplementary book which repeats the chapters involving relativity. It goes on to provide a quantum approach to light and the atom, the wave-like properties of matter including application of the Schrödinger equation, further quantum systems including the nucleus, short sections on semiconductors, superconductors and superfluids, and finally a chapter on fundamental particles. A huge range of examples are included, both worked out and for the student to attempt. Achieving a spread in general understanding of the physical sciences needs books such as The Physical Sciences. However, it is not adequate for the intending physicist or engineer. So there remains the fundamental question as to whether the non-specialist will spend the time such coverage would require. But the book provides an excellent general overview of traditional and modern physics topics including technological applications. The alternative specialist approach is provided by Physics for Scientists and Engineers but it is difficult to identify any particularly distinctive feature to the book compared with others available. The quality of production of both books is excellent with large numbers of coloured pictures. As is usual with American texts, instructor's manuals and other back-up material are available for each.

The purpose of this book is to provide a basic understanding of the different forms of renewable energy. This textbook emphasizes bioenergy, solar, wind, MHD, hydro, and OTEC. The fundamental analysis of different renewable energy systems is discussed. A total of thirteen chapters are included in this book, presenting the state of the art of renewable energy systems and their applications. An overview of the current renewable energy scenario in India is provided in the opening chapter of this book. The following chapters cover solar, wind, biomass energy, pellets and baling, biodiesel production, biogas, fuel cells, micro hydropower plants, and energy conservation in agriculture. Those who are interested in the field of renewable energy will find this book to be invaluable. This is for undergraduate and postgraduate engineering students, researchers, and anyone else who is interested in this field.

Editor's Note

The article considers the levels of the energy-economic complex development in the field of non-conventional renewable energy on the example of two countries: Ukraine and Chile; carries out a comparative analysis of growth levels in the share of alternative energy sources in the energy sector of the states. The research determines dynamics and prospects of alternative energy in Ukraine; shows the periods of alternative energy share decreasing and increasing of the countries. Particular attention is paid to the expansion of international relations in the field of scientific and technical cooperation in the field of non-conventional renewable energy between countries. The article indicates and highlights potential solutions to increase the share of non-traditional renewable energy in the Ukrainian energy market.

The object of research was to identify the field of renewable energy for ensuring the process of gradual transition from traditional energy to carbon-free technologies. The article compares the opportunities for energy development, taking into account current trends in sustainable development. The conducted analysis of energy resources in the section of renewable energy is based on the processing of available sources of analytical and statistical information. The study investigates the structure and features of the functioning of the energy sector of Ukraine and Turkey. There have been revealed several common problems of functioning of energy spheres in Ukraine and Turkey. The article investigates the possibilities of using technological solutions and principles of Industry 4.0 in ensuring energy security through the development of the electric car market. The analysis consists of calculations of the efficient functioning of solar and wind energy for Ukraine and Turkey. The article provides recommendations for the development of possible mutually beneficial cooperation between Ukraine and Turkey in the field of renewable energy.

In last five years, most of scientists and researchers have looked for new energy sources as a special innovation in the field of renewable energy. Water cell or hydroelectric power cell is the new innovation in this field of the green energy, and it can replace the carbon intensive energy, as a result it will challenge the global warming emissions. Water cell gives electricity when it immerses in water. Three samples of water cells were produced in this project, and these electrodes samples are Zn-Al, Zn-Cu, and Al-Cu cells. The thickness of each metal sheet is 0.3mm with 30 holes of 2mm diameter distributed uniformly area on 5*5 cm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sup> metal sheets. The distance between the electrodes were (2 different metal sheets) is about t=2 mm. Pasty pellets of PMMA and carbon powder (1W/1W) % by weight set up inside the cell and sandwiched between the electrodes. The Al-Zn and Al-Cu cells were tested in 600 ml of deionized water, drinking water and 1 Molar NaCl solution. Zn-Cu cell was the main cell in this project depending on its results, and it was tested in 600 ml of deionized water, drinking water, 1 Molar NaCl solution, 1 Molar HCL solution, and 1 Molar NaOH solution to test the performance of the cell in different environments and conditions. All the currents, voltages, and powers were recorded. The maximum power gain from the Zn-Cu cell in deionized water, drinking water, 1 molar(M) NaCl, 1M HCL acid and 1M NaOH solution were (0.246mW), (1.7mW), (2.7mW), (57mW) and (70mW) respectively. The test of Al-Cu cell reflects the following results in deionized water, drinking water and 1M NaCl were (0.125mW), (0.5mW) and (3.5mW) respectively. The same test of the Al-Zn cell shows the following results: deionized water, drinking water and 1M NaCl were (0.002mW), (0.12mW), and (0.125mW) respectively.

Superconducting magnetic energy storage systems: Prospects and challenges for renewable energy applications