Bumped into this at daily Kos, didnt follow up to see if its worthy, just doing a hit and run.Researchers at Ohio State University have accidentally discovered a new solar cell material capable of absorbing all of the sun's visible light energy. The material is comprised of a hybrid of plastics, molybdenum and titanium. The team discovered it not only fluoresces (as most solar cells do), but also phosphoresces. Electrons in a phosphorescent state remain at a place where they can be "siphoned off" as electricity over 7 million times longer than those generated in a fluorescent state. This combination of materials also utilizes the entire visible spectrum of light energy, translating into a theoretical potential of almost 100% efficiency. Commercial products are still years away, but this foundational work may well pave the way for a truly renewable form of clean, global energy.
http://www.tgdaily.com/html_tmp/content ... 7-113.html
A complete study of the team's work appears in the current issue of "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences" (PNAS).
Accidental Discovery of Almost 100% Efficient Solar Technolo
Accidental Discovery of Almost 100% Efficient Solar Technolo
I like the p-B11 resonance peak at 50 KV acceleration. In2 years we'll know.
Is the suggestion here to use this technology to capture the energy of the Bremsstrahlung radiation?
Of course nobody gets 100% efficiency at anything. but...
Efficiencies approaching unity would certainly help the energy balance and make the Bremsstrahlung losses into a more tractable problem.
Do we know its spectrum yet?
(Was that the 400 to 1200 nm you mentioned? I though you meant that for solar spectrum.)
Western Washington University had a project a few years back that used photovoltaics tuned to IR to convert combustion heat to electricity to drive an electric car motor. Of course it was made from some gawdawfuly toxic elements. IIRC it was a II-VI compound semiconductor system.
If this Ti-Mo-Plastic system can be tuned to the IR or the far IR the implications for waste heat recovery are staggering.
I mean: so what that the Magrid coils get hot we just recover the IR at "100%" efficiency with photovoltaics and push it back into the coils.
My TANSTAAFL detector is flashing "red-alert" ... "red-alert" ... "red-alert".
[edit another source says Mo-W-"thienyl rings" not Mo-Ti-plastic]
Here is a better article: http://www.laserfocusworld.com/display_ ... efficientl
They say the material covers whole visible spectrum 300-1000nm not 100% efficiency. This is more believable.
I hate the way journalists misunderstand and twist scientific statements.
Actually they do that to all statements as anyone who has been interviewed can attest.
Of course nobody gets 100% efficiency at anything. but...
Efficiencies approaching unity would certainly help the energy balance and make the Bremsstrahlung losses into a more tractable problem.
Do we know its spectrum yet?
(Was that the 400 to 1200 nm you mentioned? I though you meant that for solar spectrum.)
Western Washington University had a project a few years back that used photovoltaics tuned to IR to convert combustion heat to electricity to drive an electric car motor. Of course it was made from some gawdawfuly toxic elements. IIRC it was a II-VI compound semiconductor system.
If this Ti-Mo-Plastic system can be tuned to the IR or the far IR the implications for waste heat recovery are staggering.
I mean: so what that the Magrid coils get hot we just recover the IR at "100%" efficiency with photovoltaics and push it back into the coils.
My TANSTAAFL detector is flashing "red-alert" ... "red-alert" ... "red-alert".
[edit another source says Mo-W-"thienyl rings" not Mo-Ti-plastic]
Here is a better article: http://www.laserfocusworld.com/display_ ... efficientl
They say the material covers whole visible spectrum 300-1000nm not 100% efficiency. This is more believable.
I hate the way journalists misunderstand and twist scientific statements.
Actually they do that to all statements as anyone who has been interviewed can attest.
-Tom Boydston-
"If we knew what we were doing, it wouldn’t be called research, would it?" ~Albert Einstein
"If we knew what we were doing, it wouldn’t be called research, would it?" ~Albert Einstein
http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/show ... =211300474
another article, seems to clarify some of it.
another article, seems to clarify some of it.
It is still in gblaze's EE Times linked article.
The link I posted Laser Focus graph shows it petering out below 900nm (~3200K).
Their supercomputer technique may turn up more compounds especially if they look for far IR formulas.
It sure would be nice to get it down to temperatures for reasonable materials.
They are probably motivated in that direction as there are many possible applications, so it is a possible technology in the medium term.
The link I posted Laser Focus graph shows it petering out below 900nm (~3200K).
Their supercomputer technique may turn up more compounds especially if they look for far IR formulas.
It sure would be nice to get it down to temperatures for reasonable materials.
They are probably motivated in that direction as there are many possible applications, so it is a possible technology in the medium term.
-Tom Boydston-
"If we knew what we were doing, it wouldn’t be called research, would it?" ~Albert Einstein
"If we knew what we were doing, it wouldn’t be called research, would it?" ~Albert Einstein
I've been trying to verify the 10,000 nm point without luck, even reading the original PNAS paper doesn't give me enough to confirm or deny.
Reasoning it out, I suppose if the material could absorb three photons at that wave length, it might work. At that energy level a single photon to electron photo-emission wouldn't work.
It's probably best to send Malcolm Chisholm an email to clarify this.
Reasoning it out, I suppose if the material could absorb three photons at that wave length, it might work. At that energy level a single photon to electron photo-emission wouldn't work.
It's probably best to send Malcolm Chisholm an email to clarify this.
If 10,000 nm = 300K I hardly see much use for .03 eV electrons.gblaze42 wrote:I've been trying to verify the 10,000 nm point without luck, even reading the original PNAS paper doesn't give me enough to confirm or deny.
Reasoning it out, I suppose if the material could absorb three photons at that wave length, it might work. At that energy level a single photon to electron photo-emission wouldn't work.
It's probably best to send Malcolm Chisholm an email to clarify this.
Engineering is the art of making what you want from what you can get at a profit.