Solar Power, But 100 Times Better

Chemical engineers at MIT were recently able to create solar energy that is 100 times more concentrated than that created by a conventional photovoltaic cell. The secret? Carbon nanotubes.

1 minute read

October 2, 2010, 9:00 AM PDT

By Tim Halbur

From MIT's press release:

"Such nanotubes could form antennas that capture and focus light energy, potentially allowing much smaller and more powerful solar arrays.

'Instead of having your whole roof be a photovoltaic cell, you could have little spots that were tiny photovoltaic cells, with antennas that would drive photons into them,' says Michael Strano, the Charles and Hilda Roddey Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering and leader of the research team."

The carbon antennas could drastically reduce the cost of manufacturing solar panels.

FULL STORY: Solar funnel

Wednesday, September 15, 2010 in Green Muze

Energy World Solar Power MIT

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