Nano-Solar Power -Will it Be the Next Revolutionary Technology?

Nanotech has fueled the imaginations of science-fictioners for years, with world-changing and ending inventions in equal measure.  But the real strength of this molecular machinery is how it can upgrade existing concepts, and this time it's solar power's turn.  Two trendy technologies and one potentially revolutionary application.

Considering that the Sun already provides all the Earth's organic energy in one form or another, it seems a shame we can't make the machines use it too.  Solar panels have never quite cracked the power:cost ratio that would make them standard, and it turns out all the "add more expensive elements to raise efficiency" strategies are better at the expensive than the efficient bit.

Step forward Idaho National Laboratories, who were working on nano-enhancing existing technologies before realizing that was like fitting a quantum computer to navigate a steam engine.  Now they're working on entirely nano-paneling, and to say it's a whole new deal is an understatement - for one thing, you don't need to make panels anymore.

The new nanonet is flexible and can be printed on many surfaces.  A demonstration was printed on plastic bags, and the conflict of "solar power good plastic bags bad" could give any eco warrrior a serious headache.  The tiny antennae that make up the solar sheets work for the same reason your first car shook like a blender when your engine hit a certain revs: resonance.  The microscopic structures can pick up the infrared wavelengths that only Predators can even see, absorbing energy at 80% efficiency - four times the efficiency of commercial panels.

Not that the technology is perfect.  The system can absorb energy very well, but that's no good to anyone until they work out a way to harvest it from the sheet - when you're dealing with a hyper-complex web of millions of units oscillating at trillions of cycles per second, you can't just solder copper wires to the ends and call them plus and minus.  This isn't a mistake or a weakness in the concept though; it's an issue because no-one has ever done this before.  You know, the kind of thing that happens with cutting edge invention.

Posted by Luke McKinney.

Related Galaxy posts:

MIT Scientists Mimic Plants' Energy Storage System -Discovery to Unleash Solar Revolution
World's 1st Artificial Solar Powered Nano-Plants Created
Beaming Solar Power from Massive Satellites Gains Global Momentum
Apple Planning a Solar-Powered iPod & iPhone

Source:

Solar Sheets

Comments

[roulette tips man]

Modern day energy systems rely on explosion rather than implosion, and this generates heat. This includes electricity harnessed from solar power. Energy systems need to be more efficient and work on implosion, so they stay cool. The non-profit energy research organization at http://www.universalsymbiosis.org (also http://www.genuinewinner.com ) is active in these areas which will help reverse effects of global warming. They develop more efficient solar cells too. I suggest everyone also read "Living Energies" by Callum Coats which explains the work of Victor Schauberger and the importance of trees to our planet. They also cover efficiency of implosion vs explosion energy systems. Don't rely on information from the authorities as their advisers don't fully understand the life cycles of the planet. We need to push the authorities to develop forest management and sustainability plans, and this will solve at least part of the problem. But as for solar power, this is partly a solution immediately available to us if we only push the governments to act more on it.

BTW, wouldnt nanotechnology be overkill for something we already have? Basic electricity production from solar panels.

[nick yapma]

thanks for this great post