Quantum Dots Could Boost Solar Cell Efficiency

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://today.slac.stanford.edu/feature/2009/pulse-quantum-dots.asp

Quantum Dots Could Boost Solar Cell Efficiency

The transition to environmentally benign energy sources is one of the most significant challenges of the 21st century. Solar power, which uses sunlight to generate electricity, is one promising source. It has many benefits: sunlight is free; operating solar cells emits no greenhouse gasses; and solar power can be generated almost anywhere in the world. Unfortunately, today's solar energy technologies are inefficient, and thus significantly more expensive than traditional power sources. But hope is on the horizon. Recent results from the joint SLAC–Stanford PULSE Institute for Ultrafast Energy Science may help increase efficiency more than previously thought possible.

"This research is one step toward making solar cells more efficient," said PULSE researcher Kelly Gaffney. The finding, he continued, shows there is a significant difference between what's on the market now and what's possible.

In their recent experiment, PULSE researchers sought to confirm results of a Los Alamos National Laboratory study in which researchers observed one photon of light generating more than one electron of electricity. Scientists previously assumed that one photon could excite exactly one electron, limiting the efficiency of solar cells.

Both experiments used so-called "quantum dots." At a few billionths of a meter across, these spheres are made of only a few thousand atoms. On this scale, matter acts very differently from matter in bulk form; forcing all of the atoms' electrons into a very small area causes the electrons in a quantum dot to interact more and increases the strength of those interactions.

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[Gregorian]

1. This is pretty exciting.

Interesting on more than one level. Plus I just searched the SLAC site, and see that one of my friends is still a physicist there after thirty years. Sheesh, I've had at least three vocations since we knew each other.

There is a lot going on that we never hear about. This may or may not become incorporated into photovoltaic technology. I'm so glad this is happening. Petroleum burning is getting insane. Time to cut it out.

[Lorien]

2. Cool! Thanks for posting this

:thumbsup: