Even before the industrial revolutions human life quality is greatly affected by the availability of energy. The escalated and savage consumption of conventional sources of energy are leading to forecasted energy and environmental crises. Renewable energy sources such as solar energy are considered as a feasible alternative because “More energy from sunlight strikes Earth in 1 hour than all of ...

From a conceptual standpoint, the water photoelectrolysis reaction is the simplest way to convert solar energy into fuel. It is widely believed that nanostructured photocatalysts can improve the efficiency of the process and lower the costs. Indeed, nanostructured light absorbers have several advantages over traditional materials. This includes shorter charge transport pathways and larger redox...

In this paper, on the basis of Green Comprehensive Plan at Hakim Sabzevari University of Sabzevar, Iran, the application of active solar  systems for the dining hall is evaluated. The impact of solar systems and energy management designed for this hall on energy consumption and environment was investigated.This study measures the electricity and thermal energy consumption of the dining hall , p...

The photocatalytic splitting of water into hydrogen and oxygen using solar light is a potentially clean and renewable source for hydrogen fuel.(1,2) There has been extensive investigation into metal-oxide semiconductors such as TiO(2), WO(3), and Fe(2)O(3), which can be used as photoanodes in thin-film form.(3-5) Of the materials being developed for photoanodes, TiO(2) remains one of the most p...

Nature has long inspired scientists with its seemingly unlimited ability to harness solar energy and to utilize it to drive various physiological processes. With the help of man-made molecular photoswitches, we now have the potential to outperform natural systems in many ways, with the ultimate goal of fabricating multifunctional materials that operate at different light wavelengths. An importa...

Earth, wood and others traditional materials are still used in house constructions in many regions of the world, especially in the Andes. San Pedro de Atacama, for example, is a small town where earth blocks (adobes) and rammed earth (tapial) are important ways to construct, an art passed on through generations. Energy properties of earth are very interesting: thermal conductivity is low; heat ...

Mediterranean countries offer very favorable climatic conditions for growing plants in a protected environment: as a matter of fact, the high solar radiation allows the use of greenhouses with simple structures, covered with plastic film and without fixed installations for winter heating. They are called “Mediterranean greenhouses” and are totally different from those in Central and Northern Eu...

Organic light-emitting devices and solar cells are devices that create, manipulate, and convert excited states in organic semiconductors. It is crucial to characterize these excited states, or excitons, to optimize device performance in applications like displays and solar energy harvesting. This is complicated if the excited state is a triplet because the electronic transition is 'dark' with a...

The conversion of sunlight into electricity has been dominated by photovoltaic and solar thermal power generation. Photovoltaic cells are deployed widely, mostly as flat panels, whereas solar thermal electricity generation relying on optical concentrators and mechanical heat engines is only seen in large-scale power plants. Here we demonstrate a promising flat-panel solar thermal to electric po...