

New Solar Cell is 98% Plastic and Catches 96% of Incident Light - MikeCapone
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/02/caltech-plastic-solar-panels-nanowires-low-cost.php

======
danhak
Very misleading title. From the article: "arrays absorb 96 percent of incident
sunlight at a single wavelength." Sunlight is hardly monochromatic, and is in
fact spread out over a very broad spectrum. More specifically, these cells can
ostensibly absorb 96% of light with wavelength <= 1130 nanometers, which
corresponds to the band gap energy of silicon.

Also, the article does not address the important fact that absorbing light is
not tantamount to converting it to electrical energy. Namely, any energy that
a photon carries in excess of a semiconductor material's band gap (silicon's
is 1.1 eV) is wasted as thermal energy. For silicon, which lies near the tail
end of the sun's spectral curve, this means that about 61% of absorbed
sunlight goes to thermal losses.

~~~
csmeder
well then, its obvious they are thermal solar collectors for heating water :)

------
jackfoxy
Yawn...what would really be intersting is if someone wrote an article
surveying the best commercially available solar technology over the last 10
years with comparable price points and performance. Then we might get some
understanding of how much progress is really being made and where we might be
headed.

------
sdfghbvc
Doesn't mean it does anything with the 96%

Charcoal absorbs about 98% of incident light, and it doesn't even use plastics

~~~
MikeCapone
Indeed, it's an advantage over cells that reflect more light, but it isn't in
itself enough to have an efficient cell.

They haven't released the actual conversion efficiency numbers yet, but from
the qualitative talk about it, it sounds very promising. That's one tech that
I'll keep track of.

~~~
stcredzero
Also handy to know: does it last very long?

~~~
csmeder
Like long enough to feel like your better than your neighbors for being part
of the "solution" or long enough to actually be good for the environment? The
Former Yes the latter? Well if you even feel the need to ask the latter you
are Global Warming Denialists, so I cant talk to you.

------
MikeCapone
It uses very little expensive material, it can be printed roll-to-roll, and it
absorbs a lot of light. Seems like a very good foundation for a solar panel
tech, though it isn't there yet.

------
ableal
Original source (via discrete link at the bottom):
<http://media.caltech.edu/press_releases/13325>

Choice quotes from original:

 _The silicon wire arrays created by Atwater and his colleagues are able to
convert between 90 and 100 percent of the photons they absorb into electrons_

 _The next steps, Atwater says, are to increase the operating voltage and the
overall size of the solar cell. "The structures we've made are square
centimeters in size," he explains. "We're now scaling up to make cells that
will be hundreds of square centimeters—the size of a normal cell."_

------
yread
What's nice is that it is flexible! You could create a computer in a jacket
powered by solar cells :)

