Article: 3 Wild Solar Power Technologies That Coul
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Posted On: 07/20/2018 4:18:44 PM
Article: 3 Wild Solar Power Technologies That Could Secure the Industry's Future
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3. A quantum leap for solar
Although it gets lumped into the third-generation solar group, quantum dot materials are much further away from commercialization than perovskites. But the materials promise to really shake up the solar industry (and quite a few others). Why? Quantum dots are nanoparticles of semiconductor materials, and semiconductors comprise the basis for computing hardware and solar cells. But these are small. Really small -- measuring only a few nanometers across, or many thousands of times smaller than the width of a human hair.
However, these nano-semiconductors are small enough to be tuned to match the solar spectrum. That means quantum dot solar cells have a theoretical efficiency limit of 70.4%, compared to just 32% for single-junction silicon cells.
While novel cell configurations could lift existing materials beyond that roughly 32% efficiency "limit", quantum dots offer one unique advantage: They can generate electricity in the middle of the night. That's because they can be tuned to infrared wavelengths in addition to visible wavelengths of light, although night-time generation wouldn't come close to matching production during the day. Unfortunately, investors likely will have to wait more than a decade to see these capabilities hit the market -- but it's certainly a technology to watch for the future of solar power.
http://flip.it/pBM__z
3. A quantum leap for solar
Although it gets lumped into the third-generation solar group, quantum dot materials are much further away from commercialization than perovskites. But the materials promise to really shake up the solar industry (and quite a few others). Why? Quantum dots are nanoparticles of semiconductor materials, and semiconductors comprise the basis for computing hardware and solar cells. But these are small. Really small -- measuring only a few nanometers across, or many thousands of times smaller than the width of a human hair.
However, these nano-semiconductors are small enough to be tuned to match the solar spectrum. That means quantum dot solar cells have a theoretical efficiency limit of 70.4%, compared to just 32% for single-junction silicon cells.
While novel cell configurations could lift existing materials beyond that roughly 32% efficiency "limit", quantum dots offer one unique advantage: They can generate electricity in the middle of the night. That's because they can be tuned to infrared wavelengths in addition to visible wavelengths of light, although night-time generation wouldn't come close to matching production during the day. Unfortunately, investors likely will have to wait more than a decade to see these capabilities hit the market -- but it's certainly a technology to watch for the future of solar power.
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