This topic emerged through a screening of emerging issues in science, technology and society in the context of the FET CSA OBSERVE.

http://www.horizon-observatory.eu/radar-en/index.php

The big picture

The reinforced search for renewable energy sources forwards the solar technology and solar installations in generally. New designs and materials for solar cells, solar powered devices and monitoring of favourable conditions for solar panel installation (e.g. in space) were key topics in the current debate. Several research aspects in chemistry, material science but also social sciences emerged:

Solar cells

- Polymer solar cell: The polymer solar cell has become a hot research topic for the third generation of solar cells due to its advantages of low cost and the capability to be produced in large volumes with the “roll-to-roll” technique.

- Bulk heterojunction polymer solar cells: Bulk heterojunction is a low cost manufac-turing technique for polymer solar cells. Studies investigate different polymers and methods to increase efficiency.

- High performance perovskite-sensitized solar cells: Solution-processable -organic inorganic hybrid perovskites- have attracted attention as light-harvesting materials for solar cells with very promising conversion efficiency.

Another hot research topic is more efficient, affordable and benign materials for photo-electrodes and photocatalysts for splitting water (solar fuel, artificial photosynthesis).

Finally, social scientists are discussing patterns of life in solar age e.g. new strategies to better use daylight. Source: Aggregated from several

Research front: Graphene-based photocatalysts

Graphene-based photocatalysts have been attracting ever-increasing research attention in chemistry and material science. Applications of GR-based nanocomposites in photocatalysis, range from degradation of pollutants, selective transformations for or-ganic synthesis and water splitting to clean hydrogen energy by converting solar energy into chemical energy. Source: Thomson Reuters Research Fronts 2014

Emerging research front: Synthesis of copolymers by direct arylation polycondensation

Copolymers are promising as basis for organic semiconductors with favourable charac-teristics e.g. for solar cells light-emitting diodes and transistors, sensors, and displays. Direct arylation represents an economically attractive and ecologically benign alterna-tive to the traditional methodologies for synthesizing these polymers.Source: Thomson Reuters Research Fronts 2014

Decline in solar activity by 2030

A new model of the Sun's solar cycle is producing unprecedentedly accurate predic-tions of irregularities within the Sun's 11-year heartbeat. The model draws on dynamo effects in two layers of the Sun, one close to the surface and one deep within its con-vection zone. Predictions from the model suggest that solar activity will fall by 60 per cent during the 2030s to conditions last seen during the 'mini ice age' that began in 1645. Source: Science Daily/Royal Astronomical Society