Carbon Nanotube Solar Cells On the Horizon 150
MikeChino writes Carbon nanotube news abounds as of late, and the next application for the up and coming material may be hyper-efficient and economical solar cells. Led by professor Paul McEuen, researchers at Cornell recently tested a simple solar cell (called a photodiode) crafted from a single carbon nanotube. Surprisingly, researchers discovered that more light shined on the nanotube created even more electricity, a huge difference from today's silicon solar cells where excess energy is lost in the form of heat rather than used to create more electricity."
Yikes, what an article! (Score:4, Interesting)
Did anyone else conclude that article was written by someone who had little idea what they were talking about? Note that "light" doesn't enter the description until after they talk about running power through it. And not one number.
Re:Again with the #$##%# solar cells (Score:4, Interesting)
Here is an anecdote I found in my search
"Scott,
The price of PV modules has come down in the last year, although not quite as much as the Times article suggests. I don't think there has been any significant drop in the cost of inverters, racks, cable, or installation labor.
My first PV module cost me $8.33 per watt in 1980. I paid $3.97 per watt in 2004, and $3.99 per watt in April 2009. Current PV module prices can be as low as $3 a watt, but only if you buy a whole pallet of modules. Otherwise you're still liable to pay $3.50 to $3.96 a watt"
So, since the year 1979 which the GP references, prices to the consumer have dropped more than 50%, even without adjusting for inflation. After accounting for inflation, you are looking at solar being 5 times cheaper than 30 years ago. Not bad.
I know it is poor form to extrapolate like this, but if we had a similar improvement over the next thirty years, then solar would easily become the number one source of energy worldwide. that may or many not come to pass, but the overall point is that despite the jaded responses from folks, we are seeing dramatic improvement in the price/performance of solar.
Re:On the Horizon? Really (Score:4, Interesting)
The important thing though is that with the linear response to photons light can be focused on the cells- even if they are expensive they could possibly be cost competitive with Si cells.
Re:The technology isn't important (Score:3, Interesting)
no.... if it costs 10x current solar prices to ramp it up to 99% then it doesn't really help does it. I mean maybe for some weird science use but not for energy production.
TFA is a little light on details, but consider this quote: "Researchers discovered that more light shined on the nanotube created even more electricity, a huge difference from today's silicon solar cells where excess energy is lost in the form of heat rather than used to create more electricity."
So say it's 10x the current price of solar cells, but can utilize cheap mirrors so that you only need 1/10 as many of them as conventional solar cells.
There *is* some potential here (assuming it actually works on a larger scale, of course).