Energy

Whether everyday objects or high-tech materials for renewable energy technologies: for more than three years now, the technology transfer centre ANAXAM has been facilitating access to the large research facilities at PSI and supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), start-ups and large companies worldwide with a complete package of services to use these facilities for their own material analytics.

Scientists at the Swiss Plasma Center at EPFL, in collaboration with Beyond Gravity and with the support of the ESA, have developed a slip ring assembly that can more than triple the operational voltage of new-generation, high-voltage satellites.

Scientists at EPFL have increased the power conversion efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells ("Grätzel cells") beyond 15% in direct sunlight and 30% in ambient light conditions.

While the economic impacts of climate policy are generally perceived as costs, Anthony Patt proposes the opposite perspective. For Switzerland, converting the energy system and reaching the net-zero target may net benefit the economy, he finds.

Limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees requires the energy system to be restructured as quickly as possible. But the speed of this transformation is physically limited. An Empa study now calculates the influence of energy storage systems on the maximum possible transition speed – and thus also on the probability of successfully mastering the climate crisis.

One year after announcing an efficiency record, Empa scientists have achieved a new mark of 22.2% for flexible CIGS solar cell on polymer film. Solar cells of this type are especially suited for applications on buildings, vehicles, satellites, airships, and mobile devices.