Solar powered technologies might increase in number if nanotechnological developments from University of Texas, prove effective.
This will become possible if the Team of scientists consisting of Dr. Anton Malko, Dr. Yuri Gartstein, and Dr. Yves Chabal, succeed in their project to develop solar cells using ultra-thin materials. Their aim is to produce cells that are a hundred times thinner than traditional silicon solar cells but having the same efficiency.
The new devises will not only be less rigid and fragile, but they will be lighter and more flexible. According to Maiko, the demand for such technology is very high, especially since new electronic devices would benefit greatly from portable sources of power.
The new technology uses accurately positioned nanosized crystal particles, known as “quantum dots”, layered in between thin nanomembranes of silicon in order to absorb and transfer the energy coming from the Sun.
The research is still ongoing. The team now tests the different ways of transferring the energy through the devices in order to determine the best positioning of the quantum dots as well as the thickness of the layers. We are eagerly waiting for this device to flood the commercial market.
Via: Threehugger
