Thursday 13 December 2007

Role of Nanotechnology in Solar Energy Generation

Prof Shay Curran delivers a free public lecture entitled The Role of Nanotechnology in Solar Energy Generation at DIT today at 4pm.

Existing solar panels are based on inorganic chemistry. They are made of rigid silicon and while effective, giving conversion efficiencies of between 12 and 20 per cent they are very expensive.
Prof Curran is going "organic" in a chemistry sense, producing thin film solar cells combining modified fullerenes suspended in a polymer layer. "We are sticking to the organics because they are much simpler, cheaper and flexible substances," he says. When Curran says flexible he means flexible. He envisages uses such as coatings on tent fabrics where the tent itself provides the electricity, or fabric-like sheets that can be thrown over a roof top to generate electricity for the home. Imagine a beach towel that also powers an MP3 player or a radio powered by the sun.
For the full Irish Times article see: http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/sciencetoday/2007/1213/1197411732332.html