Will New Technologies Give Critical Boost to Solar
Post# of 22453
Posted On: 12/12/2014 10:38:38 PM
Will New Technologies Give Critical Boost to Solar Power?
Good info on QDots.
http://e360.yale.edu/feature/will_new_technol...ower/2832/
Is he any way connected to QMC?
Eli Yablonovitch, a professor in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences Department at the University of California, Berkeley, is developing high-performance cells with multiple semiconductor layers. Each is “tuned” to absorb different light wavelengths. By splitting the solar spectrum into separate colors, these “multi-junction” cells maximize the harvest for each — even reaping energy from non-visible, infrared frequencies.
Another new design involves quantum dots — nanometer-sized crystals able to confine energized electrons and help them knock loose others. The process, called “multiple exciton generation,” can potentially recover a third of light energy normally lost as heat.
“That third of energy — that’s a huge chunk you’re throwing away,” said Matthew Beard, an NREL senior scientist collaborating on developing quantum dots at Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Center for Advanced Solar Photophysics. Quantum dots could boost efficiencies into the range of multi-junction cells for much lower cost, he said.
Assembling the dots into a cell, however, requires a “whole other level of chemistry,” and scientists are still working on how to do that. The current top efficiency is a fairly dismal 8.6 percent. “But the encouraging thing is that there is progress,” Beard said. “We started out at two or three percent in 2009, and now we’re at close to nine.” Theoretically, solar cells with a single quantum dot layer could convert up to 45 percent of the sun’s energy into electricity, he said.
Good info on QDots.
http://e360.yale.edu/feature/will_new_technol...ower/2832/
Is he any way connected to QMC?
Eli Yablonovitch, a professor in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences Department at the University of California, Berkeley, is developing high-performance cells with multiple semiconductor layers. Each is “tuned” to absorb different light wavelengths. By splitting the solar spectrum into separate colors, these “multi-junction” cells maximize the harvest for each — even reaping energy from non-visible, infrared frequencies.
Another new design involves quantum dots — nanometer-sized crystals able to confine energized electrons and help them knock loose others. The process, called “multiple exciton generation,” can potentially recover a third of light energy normally lost as heat.
“That third of energy — that’s a huge chunk you’re throwing away,” said Matthew Beard, an NREL senior scientist collaborating on developing quantum dots at Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Center for Advanced Solar Photophysics. Quantum dots could boost efficiencies into the range of multi-junction cells for much lower cost, he said.
Assembling the dots into a cell, however, requires a “whole other level of chemistry,” and scientists are still working on how to do that. The current top efficiency is a fairly dismal 8.6 percent. “But the encouraging thing is that there is progress,” Beard said. “We started out at two or three percent in 2009, and now we’re at close to nine.” Theoretically, solar cells with a single quantum dot layer could convert up to 45 percent of the sun’s energy into electricity, he said.
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