SOLAR GETS CHEAPER (U.S.)

As Buddy Holly once said, "Every day, feel it gettin' closer, goin' faster than a roller coaster..." And a tip of the New Energy cap to those who do the funding.

New quantum dots make cheaper solar panels
May 3, 2007 (UPI)
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WHO
Assistant Professor Michael Wong, Rice University, with graduate students Subashini Asokan and Karl Krueger, and Center for Biological and Environmental Nanotechnology (CBEN) Director Vicki Colvin

WHAT
A new chemical method for uniformly producing molecular specks of semiconductor “quantum dots” made from cadmium selenide, called tetrapods, may result in more efficient and cheaper solar cells.

WHEN

WHERE
CBEN, Rice University, Houston, Texas
Cadmium Selenium tetrapod nanostructure
WHY
Tetrapods (four-legged quantum dots) more efficiently convert sunlight into electricity. But here has been no way to make them without losing up to 30%. The new chemistry, using cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (a safer and cheaper ingredient) instead of alkylphosphonic acid compounds, produces 90% and entails cheaper raw materials and fewer steps in the process.

QUOTES
“The research is detailed in the journal Small.”