KIWI SOLAR PANEL BREAKTHROUGH
April 6th, 2007Full text follows, because I expect to never hear about this again.
Via: stuff.co.nz:
Friday, 06 Apr 2007
Solar power breakthrough at Massey
New solar cells developed by Massey University don’t need direct sunlight to operate and use a patented range of dyes that can be impregnated in roofs, window glass and eventually even clothing to produce power.
This means teenagers could one day be wearing jackets that will recharge their equivalents of cellphones, iPods and other battery- driven devices.
The breakthrough is a development of the university’s Nanomaterials Research Centre and has attracted world-wide interest already – particularly from Australia and Japan.
Researchers at the centre have developed a range of synthetic dyes from simple organic compounds closely related to those found in nature, where light-harvesting pigments are used by plants for photosynthesis.
“This is a proof-of-concept cell,” said researcher Wayne Campbell, pointing to a desktop demonstration model.
“Within two to three years we will have developed a prototype for real applications. “The technology could be sold off already, but it would be a shame to get rid of it now.”
The key to everything is the ability of the synthetic dyes to pass on the energy that reaches them – something that mere coloured water could not do.
“We now have the most efficient porphyrin dye in the world,” said the centre’s director, Ashton Partridge.
“It is the most efficient ever made. While others are doing related work, in this aspect we are the world leaders.”
The development of the dyes has taken about 10 years and was accomplished with funding from the Royal Society of New Zealand for fundamental work and the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology in the later stages.
Now the team is seeking extra funding to go commercial.
“This particular technology does not require the large infrastructure required for silicon chips and the like,” said Professor Partridge. It lends itself to being taken up by local and New Zealand industries.
Other dyes being tested in the cells are based on haemoglobin, the compound that gives blood its colour.
Dr Campbell said that unlike silicone-based solar cells, the dye- based cells are still able to operate in low-light conditions, making them ideal for cloudy climates.
They are also more environmentally friendly because they are made from titanium dioxide – an abundant and non-toxic, white mineral available from New Zealand’s black sand.
Titanium dioxide is used already in consumer products such as toothpaste, white paints and cosmetics.
“The refining of silicon, although a very abundant mineral, is energy- hungry and very expensive,” he said.
Professor Partridge said the next step was to take the dyes and incorporate them in roofing materials, tinted window glass and wall panels where they could generate electricity for home owners.
The aim was to develop a solar cell that could convert as much sunlight as possible to electricity.
“The energy that reaches Earth from sunlight in one hour is more than that used by all human activities in one year.”
I have my illusions of hope place on Nanosolar.
They are funded by Google founders (they use MASSIVE amounts of energy) and claim they can print nano-ink onto a thin substrate and make solar panels inexpensive finally.
http://www.nanosolar.com/
But here is a curious one on converting Cellulose to Ethanol. I must admit right here that this was my advanced chemistry project in High School and I found it is VERY hard to break down cellulose into something that can be fermented. So I used apple cider instead and built my own still in the lab. 😉
Never dared taste the nasty stuff, but it sure burned.
http://www.emagazine.com/view/?3613
I really hope this becomes available to actually use for the general public! This would be really amazing! How about making the dye into a form of housepaint, which would turn all your exterior walls into a giant solar power panel? Now that would be amazing! And if EESTOR comes through with their power source we’ll really be talking..
really interesting… i actually remember seeing, i think, the inventor of this technique on pbs a few months ago…. maybe something to invest in?
Enough with the ‘proof of concept’ crap already. Instead of chasing an ephemeral product we should be aggressively moving to the current green techs (like Germany e.g.).
Enjoy.
More vaporware. Lots and lots of this kind of stuff in the news, but the only thing this stuff is, is propaganda bullshit. Not saying that the technology isn’t there or that it doesn’t work, but all we ever seem to see is the “promise of a better technology” that never makes it to market. Meanwhile, Rome (planet Earth) burns to the ground while investors rush to the next big thing to make yet another dollar (or not).
Not holding my breath. I don’t believe a technofix is going to save us anyway. I think we’re toast. We are only just now witnessing the serious effects of human stupidity extending back over the last 50+ years. What do you suppose it will be like when climate change really hits?
I see collapse – everywhere.
Well I’m not nearly as jaded as many who post here in regards to the dissolution of society as we know it because of the fact that the technologies to save us already exist. The only thing missing is the political willpower, and that is currently being bought by the oil interests. We’re very nearly to the point where even the low efficiency solar cells I experimented with thirty odd years ago are going to be cost efficient. We’ve at least added a few percentage points onto the efficiency since then (in real life products). There was a story on Digg that showed a graph of how much surface are would be required to convert NOW to solar. It wasn’t as much area as you might expect.
Enjoy.
Tim, I’m old enough to remember the same claims from the late 1970’s. Nothing has really changed since then.
Existing panel technologies are badly overpriced, in what is at present basically a small egalitarian niche marketplace. The number of residential PV systems currently installed and operating in the US is under 100k, total. To contrast, more Americans own an expensive European sportscar (Porsche, Ferrarri, Lotus, etc).
BP’s existing panels (an example) cost less than $1.75/watt to manufacture, yet sell for nearly 3 times that to suppliers/installers who are often little more than amateur hobbyists themselves. Little has changed since 1980, and buyers are still not getting much for their buck.
A large market breakthrough or a new technology introduced by any company would render this business approach non-viable, and drive down prices across the board, in much the same way as has occurred for residential alarm systems over the last 20 years. This has not happened with PV, despite 30 years of promise that it could and would, and despite 30 years of rising average annual wholesale energy prices. Then there is the energy storage issue to be overcome (less the power shut off when the sun goes down).
An Apollo program for energy? Coulda, woulda, shoulda.