As critical as this sort of innovation is, and as challenging, I believe it
is much *less* challenging than the socio-political-theory challenges of
creating thriving competitive markets in power, energy, transportation,
etc. Such an innovation as this, if pursued aggressively, alongside many
other competing and complementary innovations, could really help change the
way we do things. But it's hard for that to happen in world where such
innovations go swept under the rug, unappreciated or needlessly slowly
developed.
Well, maybe things will heat up and we'll see these sorts of innovations in
PV sooner than I think.
MM
> http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/rnb_030603.asp
>
>
>
>Cheap Solar Power on Deck
>
>Technology Research News March 6, 2003
>
>Solar cells are relatively pricey largely because the silicon they are made
>from is expensive to manufacture ÷ it requires a clean room or high vacuum.
>
>Solar cells harvest energy from light by capturing photons. The way
>silicon's electrons are arranged allows the material to absorb photons of
>visible light. The energy imparted by the photons excites the material's
>electrons, causing electricity to flow.
>
>University of California at Santa Barbara researchers have come up with a
>new type of solar cell that separates the process into two steps. The
>researchers' prototype suggests that the devices can be improved to be
>nearly as efficient as today's solar cells and would be more than order of
>magnitude cheaper to manufacture.
>
>Key to the design is ballistic transport, which shoots electrons straight
>through an extremely thin film of metal. In larger films or wires, electrons
>bounce around, losing energy.
>
>This efficiency allowed the researchers to use dye molecules to absorb
>light, then transport excited electrons to a semiconductor layer that is
>cheaper than silicon and can be much thinner than the crystalline silicon
>layers in most conventional solar cells.
>
>The work appeared in the February 6, 2003 issue of the journal Nature.
>
>
>
>[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
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