Submitted via IRC for RandomFactor
Researchers have developed a new hybrid device -- pairing silicon with organic, carbon-based molecules -- that can convert blue photons into red photons, paving the way for more efficient solar energy conversion.
Silicon's electronic properties make it a popular choice for a variety of technologies. The material, one of Earth's most abundant, is used to make everything from semiconductors to solar cells. But silicon isn't great at turning light into electricity.
While silicon can convert red photons into electricity just fine, its attempts to convert blue photons, which carry twice as much energy as red photons, yields mostly wasted thermal energy.
For the new device, engineers paired silicon with a carbon-based material called anthracene that converts blue photons into red photons, which the silicon can more easily convert into electricity.
Achieving spin-triplet exciton transfer between silicon and molecular acceptors for photon upconversion$, Nature Chemistry (DOI: doi:10.1038/s41557-019-0385-8)
(Score: 3, Funny) by barbara hudson on Thursday December 12 2019, @08:15PM
Great. Now even the blue pills look red! Screwed again.
SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Bot on Thursday December 12 2019, @09:09PM
So, given its powers of getting reds out of blues, you can call it... the Trumpsistor.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 2) by Osamabobama on Friday December 13 2019, @12:42AM (3 children)
If you get rid of half the photon's energy, it will turn from blue to red, making it easier to convert to electricity. The extra energy can then be disbursed as heat, or something.
I'm assuming the article goes into more detail, and I'll probably get there someday...
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 2) by richtopia on Friday December 13 2019, @12:49AM
This could be an example of research that does not immediately have a use-case, but becomes important in the future.
I believe the example the summary was trying to allude to was solar panels. Solar panels are more efficient with red light, so converting the blue wavelengths to reds could help improve performance. However, even in the article there is not much details how this happens.
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Friday December 13 2019, @01:25AM (1 child)
Maybe you get more red photons? Or maybe you just get to use some energy from the blue photons you would otherwise discard completely as heat?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 13 2019, @07:10AM
After reading the article that seems to be the case, or at least something equivalent. The carbon layer absorbs part of the photon's energy as it passes through. The hard part is extracting that stored energy in a usable form. Theoretically this should not only improve efficiency under white light but also increase the life of the silicon layer. Less waste means less heat means less heat damage.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 13 2019, @06:15AM (2 children)
Just a hunch but the law of conservation of energy means that energy goes somewhere.
It is possible that its converting 1 blue photon to 2 red photons. Other systems do exactly this to produce pairs of entangled photons. If you dont care about the entangled state its still energy.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 13 2019, @07:20AM (1 child)
Yes that what tfa says. Btw law of conservation of energy is by no means the gospel you and others think it is.
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Friday December 13 2019, @08:17PM
I think Mrs. Noether wants to have a word with you.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Quicksilver on Friday December 13 2019, @01:26PM
First objection was Converting a blue photon into a red is just throwing away energy but through the magic of RTFA it says they are converting one blue to two red photons. (Yay! More = Gooder! Yippie!!)
But...
The article fails to expand even a bit past that. Particle energy levels are discrete so does this work only on a specific wavelength or a narrow wavelength? That is the important bit. Unless it works across a broad range of frequencies it won't yield the results needed to actually make electricity.
I realize they need to "dumb down" raw research when they release it to the masses but it is frustrating when it is scrubbed clean of all content besides what could be put in a title.