Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) released a new study on the installed costs of solar photovoltaic (PV) power systems in the U.S., showing that the average cost of these systems declined by more than 30 percent from 1998 to 2008. Within the last year of this period, costs fell by more than 4 percent.

Two young Berkeley Lab and University of California, Berkeley scientists have been recognized by Technology Review magazine as among the world’s top innovators under age 35. Ali Javey was chosen for “painting” nanowires into electronic circuits. Cyrus Wadia was chosen for identifying materials that could be unexpectedly useful in solar cells.

Researchers in Berkeley Lab’s Materials Sciences Division and at UC Berkeley have made efficient, cheap, flexible solar cells by growing dense 3-D arrays of single-crystal semiconductors on a prepatterned aluminum substrate. The nanoscale pillars are embedded in a complementary transparent semiconductor that serves as a window. The solar cells are made bendable by embedding them in clear plastic.

Berkeley Lab researchers are finding that the best route forward to the hydrogen highway could be via the nano road. Their studies show that highly dense vertical arrays of nanowires made from silicon cores coated with titanium oxide shells are promising for the production of hydrogen through solar water splitting.