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New coating is virtual black hole for reflections
March 05, 2007Nonreflecting material may help solar cells catch more of the sun's rays
Researchers have created an anti-reflective coating that allows light to travel through it, but lets almost none bounce off its surface. At least 10 times more effective than the coating on sunglasses or computer monitors, the material, which is made of silica nanorods, may be used to channel light into solar cells or allow more photons to surge through the surface of a light-emitting diode (LED).
Publishing in the March 1, 2007, Nature Photonics, lead author Jong Kyu Kim and a team from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., reveal how they crafted the coating, which reflects almost as little light as do molecules of air.
Guided by National Science Foundation-supported electrical engineer Fred Schubert, the researchers developed a process based on an already common method for depositing layers of silica, the building block of quartz, onto computer chips and other surfaces.
The method grows ranks of nanoscale rods that lie at the same angle. That degree of the angle is determined by temperature. Under a microscope, the films look like tiny slices of shag carpet.
By laying down multiple layers, each at a different angle, the researchers created thin films that are uniquely capable of controlling light. With the right layers in the right configuration, the researchers believe they can even create a film that will reflect no light at all.
One critical application for the material is in the development of next-generation solar cells. By preventing reflections, the coating would allow more light, and more wavelengths of light, to transmit through the protective finish on a solar cell surface and into the cell itself. Engineers may be able to use such a technique to boost the amount of energy a cell can collect, bypassing current efficiency limits.
Another application would involve coating LEDs to eliminate reflections that cut down the amount of light the LED can emit. The researchers hope the efficiency gains could allow the light sources to compete more effectively with fluorescent and incandescent bulbs. So, they will next focus their attention on solid state lighting.
National Science Foundation
Guided by National Science Foundation-supported electrical engineer Fred Schubert, the researchers developed a process based on an already common method for depositing layers of silica, the building block of quartz, onto computer chips and other surfaces.
The method grows ranks of nanoscale rods that lie at the same angle. That degree of the angle is determined by temperature. Under a microscope, the films look like tiny slices of shag carpet.
By laying down multiple layers, each at a different angle, the researchers created thin films that are uniquely capable of controlling light. With the right layers in the right configuration, the researchers believe they can even create a film that will reflect no light at all.
One critical application for the material is in the development of next-generation solar cells. By preventing reflections, the coating would allow more light, and more wavelengths of light, to transmit through the protective finish on a solar cell surface and into the cell itself. Engineers may be able to use such a technique to boost the amount of energy a cell can collect, bypassing current efficiency limits.
Another application would involve coating LEDs to eliminate reflections that cut down the amount of light the LED can emit. The researchers hope the efficiency gains could allow the light sources to compete more effectively with fluorescent and incandescent bulbs. So, they will next focus their attention on solid state lighting.
National Science Foundation
Solar Cell Current Events and Solar Cell News RSSSlicing solar power costs
University of Utah engineers devised a new way to slice thin wafers of the chemical element germanium for use in the most efficient type of solar power cells. They say the new method should lower the cost of such cells by reducing the waste and breakage of the brittle semiconductor.
Golden Scales: Nanoscale Mass Sensor from Berkeley Can Be Used to Weigh Individual Atoms and Molecules
There's a new "gold standard" in the sensitivity of weighing scales. Using the same technology with which they created the world's first fully functional nanotube radio, researchers with Berkeley Lab and the University of California (UC) at Berkeley have fashioned a nanoelectromechanical system (NEMS) that can function as a scale sensitive enough to measure the mass of a single atom of gold.
New efficiency benchmark for dye-sensitized solar cells
In a paper published online June 29 in the journal Nature Materials, EPFL professor Michael Graetzel, Shaik Zakeeruddin and colleagues from the Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry at the Chinese Academy of Sciences have achieved a record light conversion efficiency of 8.2% in solvent-free dye-sensitized solar cells.
Perfecting a solar cell by adding imperfections
Nanotechnology is paving the way toward improved solar cells. New research shows that a film of carbon nanotubes may be able to replace two of the layers normally used in a solar cell, with improved performance at a lower cost. Researchers have found a surprising way to give the nanotubes the properties they need: add defects.
Researchers demonstrate 'avalanche effect' in solar cells
Researchers at TU Delft and the FOM Foundation for Fundamental Research on Matter have found irrefutable proof that the so-called avalanche effect by electrons occurs in specific, very small semiconducting crystals.
New efficiency record for solar cells
The efficiency improvement is achieved by the use of an ultra-thin aluminum oxide layer at the front of the cell, and it brings a breakthrough in the use of solar energy a step closer.
Nanoengineered barrier invented to protect plastic electronics from water degradation
A breakthrough barrier technology from Singapore A*STAR's Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE) protects sensitive devices like organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) and solar cells from moisture 1000 times more effectively than any other technology available in the market, opening up new opportunities for the up-and-coming plastic electronics sector.
Popcorn-ball design doubles efficiency of dye-sensitized solar cells
A new approach is able to create a dramatic improvement in cheap solar cells now being developed in laboratories.
The future of solar-powered houses is clear
People could live in glass houses and look at the world through rose-tinted windows while reducing their carbon emissions by 50% thanks to QUT Institute of Sustainable Resources (ISR) research.
Special coating greatly improves solar cell performance
The energy from sunlight falling on only 9 percent of California's Mojave Desert could power all of the United States' electricity needs if the energy could be efficiently harvested, according to some estimates.
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