03092010

Self-Assembling Solar Cells Recycle Themselves Repeatedly

See the original article here. Basically by reducing the 'depth' of the active layer in a solar cell to significant;y less than the wavelength of light; the 'wave' form of light comes into play which makes it possible contained the light within the active layer for longer. This increased time in active layers improves the odds of the light being converted into electrical energy.

So what does this mean in practice? Not a lot in the short term, but if this is combined with other techniques in the pipeline - we could end up with a highly efficient solar cell at some time in the future which will really put the current generation of solar cells well in the shade..