Chemical engineers at MIT were recently able to create solar energy that is 100 times more concentrated than that created by a conventional photovoltaic cell. The secret? Carbon nanotubes.
From MIT's press release:
"Such nanotubes could form antennas that capture and focus light energy, potentially allowing much smaller and more powerful solar arrays.
'Instead of having your whole roof be a photovoltaic cell, you could have little spots that were tiny photovoltaic cells, with antennas that would drive photons into them,' says Michael Strano, the Charles and Hilda Roddey Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering and leader of the research team."
The carbon antennas could drastically reduce the cost of manufacturing solar panels.
FULL STORY: Solar funnel
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