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posted by Fnord666 on Wednesday February 26 2020, @10:53AM   Printer-friendly
from the more-power dept.

A new world record for the conversion of solar energy to electricity using quantum dots:

The development of next generation solar power technology that has potential to be used as a flexible 'skin' over hard surfaces has moved a step closer, thanks to a significant breakthrough at The University of Queensland.

UQ researchers set a world record for the conversion of solar energy to electricity via the use of tiny nanoparticles called 'quantum dots', which pass electrons between one another and generate electrical current when exposed to solar energy in a solar cell device.

The development represents a significant step towards making the technology commercially-viable and supporting global renewable energy targets.

Professor Lianzhou Wang, who led the breakthrough, said: "Conventional solar technologies use rigid, expensive materials. The new class of quantum dots the university has developed are flexible and printable.

"This opens up a huge range of potential applications, including the possibility to use it as a transparent skin to power cars, planes, homes and wearable technology. Eventually it could play a major part in meeting the United Nations' goal to increase the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix."

Professor Wang's team set the world record for quantum dot solar cell efficiency by developing a unique surface engineering strategy. Overcoming previous challenges around the fact that the surface of quantum dots tend to be rough and unstable—making them less efficient at converting solar into electrical current.

"This new generation of quantum dots is compatible with more affordable and large-scale printable technologies," said Professor Wang.

Mengmeng Hao et al, Ligand-assisted cation-exchange engineering for high-efficiency colloidal Cs1−xFAxPbI3 quantum dot solar cells with reduced phase segregation, Nature Energy (2020). DOI: 10.1038/s41560-019-0535-7


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 27 2020, @04:45PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 27 2020, @04:45PM (#963592)

    too inefficient? do you mean "money wise"?
    i am sure "somehow" the people controlling the predominate source of (any non free) energy will find a way to make it "inefficient".
    think of it this way: if going from A to B is more efficient energy wise but does require energy, the amount of energy can required to get from A to B can be made expensive. like a sign that says: if using energy xyz then please detour via C and D... which kindda is what's happening with solar in many countries because the fossile energy convertion to electricity industry is in bed with the government.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 27 2020, @05:13PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday February 27 2020, @05:13PM (#963613)

    maybe my previous post was not clear.
    look at it like so:
    i live in a hot climate. i prefer cooling my dwelling to heating.
    as it is, nobody in my country cares much about building cool buildings. they might look cool (but mostly they are just cheap and fast to build) leaving the livability aspect of temperature to the buyer (read: install a aircon if it's too hot)
    the same country sends a technician and a citation on the electricity bill if my e-meter from teslas times shows less then the previous month. the technicians now installs a e-meter that is prevented from spinning backwards. some would now argue that the excess electricity is not flowing out, over and thru another, forward spinning meter, reducing the load on the gas flow pipe into the gigantinormous 500 gas turbine (bullshit).
    the reason cited was that the hand held printing device for electricty bills has a error printing bills with negative kwh numbers. some would argue that since inception, normal usage (e-meter spinning the correct way) is negative (correct) anyways (weeeeh. arent we brainwashed: positif kwh are good(tm)).
    so long story short, i should be cooling down my miserable concrete block down to a ice block during the day with free sunlight-2-electricity and opening the windows at night if it's too cold...