Solar power game-changer: "near perfect" absorption of sunlight, from all angles

no doubt im getting this for my (future) house, no matter what the cost, it means better bills and more peace of mind

sounds like a great plan.

very nice article and information. gogreensolar.com

PlatoTacius

Agreed, with a proviso or two.

It's one thing to be made a slave by compulsion. But when there is a choice, and it is far less costly to make it, then those who let themselves be the money-switch flipped by power companies are their own jailers. "Each in his prison thinking of a key, thinking of a key each assumes --- ----"

Off Grid is the only prospect we have to end national impoverishment. Permanent servitude to folks, on shore and off, who are quite prosperous, in fact ridiculously so, already.

Avery, I agree, the only way to truly be free is to be off-grid, however, there are so many who just want to flip the switch and not have to think about whether it will work tomorrow without maintenance... there has to be a way to stop paying through the nose for utility services, but the big companies don't want that change. They are comfortable where they're at...raking in the huge profits...

I'm exited about this development, because it greatly reduces the cost of having the mechanized system in order to achieve ultimum efficiency... We are in a good position to move forward with this technology and explore many more ways to improve our lives and wean ourselves off of Big Oil...

Those who don't get with the program will fiind themselves behind very soon... or else they'll be the straglers clinging to petroleum dependency...

Nice thread. Such scientists that create inovative
and needed products are true heroes!

We Americans need to become more involved and write letters to congress ect. demanding such science and implementaion of diverse energies. It seems and feels we finally will have a progressive government hence we need to be active and take part!.

Is this the guy from Kanarka Technologies? Because if it is then the next step they will take is to make the solar panels flexable. Can we say phones that charge by themselves!

There is no doubt that the new technologies are speeding us toward a brighter. As our green technology advances, the companies should keep in mind the consumer cost. All of the technology will not serve us well unless it is affordable by the masses.

Yee haw!

Well, even with the discounts and tax savings, I don't have the money on what I make. I wish I did.

This is so exciting. I can't wait until the new-generation, super-efficient panels are available to consumers... or until industrial solar arrays using the new coating start providing cheaper, cleaner power for electrical ultility companies to sell to residential and business customers.

hapykap writes,

"Discounts, Tax incentives this is the way to go to get it to everyone on the Planet - Big Blue."

There's a miriad of methods by which we can switch from fossil fuel slavery to some other sort of voluntary serfdom - and thus continue to fall behind on the cost of merely living.

The only strategy which makes any sense is "Off Grid." Once we disconnect from perpetual dependency on giant energy and food corporations we recover our strength, vitality and future. Otherwise it's feudalism all over again.

Oh, I have heard about this!!! It does sound promising. I'd really like to put solar power in my house somehow and I am trying to learn as much about it as I can. That and wind power too.

Between this and global warming solar power will thrive. :)

Let the light shine in...

Man is truly shedding the old and embracing his greatness.

It has to be affordable and practical for the do-it yourselfer and the small entrepreneur.

Discounts, Tax incentives this is the way to go to get it to everyone on the Planet - Big Blue.

Help the Planet - plant a solar panel on your roof.

Live Learn Love Evolve Create Greatness and give it away...

Very cool, I wonder if this coating will work for monitors and tv's also?

This is great news. Hopefully this will indeed result more people moving to solar energy.

DO IT >_

Yes, good news, indeed. Thanks for sharing, SeaJade.

Continued from above: "Lin's discovery could antiquate these automated solar arrays, as his antireflective coating absorbs sunlight evenly and equally from all angles. This means that a stationary solar panel treated with the coating would absorb 96.21 percent of sunlight no matter the position of the sun in the sky. So along with significantly better absorption of sunlight, Lin's discovery could also enable a new generation of stationary, more cost-efficient solar arrays.

"At the beginning of the project, we asked 'would it be possible to create a single antireflective structure that can work from all angles?' Then we attacked the problem from a fundamental perspective, tested and fine-tuned our theory, and created a working device," Lin said. Rensselaer physics graduate student Mei-Ling Kuo played a key role in the investigations.

Typical antireflective coatings are engineered to transmit light of one particular wavelength. Lin's new coating stacks seven of these layers, one on top of the other, in such a way that each layer enhances the antireflective properties of the layer below it. These additional layers also help to "bend" the flow of sunlight to an angle that augments the coating's antireflective properties. This means that each layer not only transmits sunlight, it also helps to capture any light that may have otherwise been reflected off of the layers below it.

The seven layers, each with a height of 50 nanometers to 100 nanometers, are made up of silicon dioxide and titanium dioxide nanorods positioned at an oblique angle - each layer looks and functions similar to a dense forest where sunlight is "captured" between the trees. The nanorods were attached to a silicon substrate via chemical vapor disposition, and Lin said the new coating can be affixed to nearly any photovoltaic materials for use in solar cells, including III-V multi-junction and cadmium telluride.

Along with Lin and Kuo, co-authors of the paper include E. Fred Schubert, Wellfleet Senior Constellation Professor of Future Chips at Rensselaer; Research Assistant Professor Jong Kyu Kim; physics graduate student David Poxson; and electrical engineering graduate student Frank Mont.

Funding for the project was provided by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Basic Energy Sciences, as well as the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research."