Solar Cell Efficiency Heats Up At UT
UT scientists think they know a way to make solar cells dramatically more efficient. The secret: a nifty-sounding bit of technology called quantum dots.
Quantum dots (or more formally, semiconductor nanocrystals) could capture more solar energy, the team says. The efficiency rate of the conventional silicon solar cells most commonly used today is around 30 percent; the rate for cells using quantum dots could be up to 66 percent, they say.
The findings of chemist Xiaoyang Zhu and his fellow researchers are reported in this week’s Science.
Zhu predicts great possibilities and gains for solar energy. “There is no reason we cannot be using solar energy 100 percent within 50 years,” he says.
If you like the sound of that, check out the July|August Alcalde, which will include an update story on the ways UT is going green. One attention-getting possibility: converting the Godzillatron in DKR-Texas Memorial Stadium to solar power. A group of professors and students has been researching the idea. Their next step is finding funding for a feasibility study.
And who knows? Maybe it could someday employ quantum dot technology.
Share this article
-
David Conrad: Thanks for the corrections! I'll try to fix those on the original posting of th...
-
Mary Dell Harrington: So happy to learn of the good works that fellow Plan II graduate is doing for Af...
-
Marjorie Woods: I often purchase books in both paperback and as ebooks for reading under differe...
-
Bob: Gary, By what logic do you derive that, just because you disagree with my opi...
-
Mary Raffetto: This is awesome and I am so proud of my nephew, Ryan. This is another great his...
5 Comments
I think it will be sooner than 50 years from now..people are stating to take things like clean energy more serious now.
Way to go for the development of alternative energy. I am looking forward of a world whose main energy sources are the earth, wind, sun and water which are all abundant and are free.
That would be nice a clean world..free from electric bills to..lol
100% solar reliance would dramatically change the way our world operates. We have become so hooked on electricity that it is crippling our environment. I’m excited to see how quantum dots will shape our future.
The future of the world depends on our embracing renewable energy sources — solar, of course, but also wind, hydroelectric, etc. The only thing we have to lose is our planet…