A collaboration of physicists, scientists and businesses have teamed up to create cheap and highly effective solar cells on a nanoscopic scale. Spearheaded by the Idaho National Laboratory, this team is onto a fresh way of producing solar panels that can continue to absorb energy even after the sun has set. The technology, not only efficient at nearly 80%, will also be cheap to manufacture, at estimated pennies a yard.
A specialized manufacturing process will stamp tiny square spirals of a conducting metal onto a think sheet of plastic that have been coined “nanoantennas.” At the slight width on the order of 1/25 the diameter of a human hair, these nanoantennas can absorb energy produced through the infrared spectrum. Infrared energy is produced in massive quantities by the sun, a portion of which is absorbed by the earth only to be released as radiation after the sun has set. These nanoantennas can absorb energy from both the rays of the daylight sun and the heat radiated from the earth at a higher efficiency than modern solar cells.
Steven Novak, a physicist at the Idaho National Laboratory spoke on this technology he is working on at the National Nano Engineering Conference in Boston. He said, “I think these antennas really have the potential to replace traditional solar panels.”
The technology simply mimics that of your cell phone or television antenna, absorbing energy by resonance. The theory that has born the research to produce these nanoantennas was based upon this platform; just make an antenna small enough to absorb the miniscule wavelengths produced by electromagnetic radiation.
The technology behind these atomic sized power modules is nothing new, but it has taken many years to discover an efficient way to print these miniscule spiraled antennas. It wasn’t until the inception of booming advancements in nanotechnology that this fine concept was taken from the theory to the tooling with production of these nanoantennas. The team at the INL forecast seeing the antennas produced akin to that of foil or plastic wrap in rolls of highly efficient solar cells. The team has been able to demonstrate an imprinting process with six-inch circular stamps, with each stamp containing more than 10 million antennas.
Instead of pairing this technology up with conventional solar cells to give them a boost in efficiency, the developers decided instead to make the nanoantennas independent energy harvesters. The team has estimated that individual nanoantennas are capable of absorbing nearly 80 percent of the available energy bombarded onto us daily by the sun. That is a staggering number compared to the conventional panels producing at around 20 percent.
Nanoantennas are not limited to silicon mediums, the circuits can actually be made from a variety of conducting metals and the antennas can be printed onto very thin and flexible materials such as polyethylene. The team has also estimated that the nanoantenna arrays can be available for as much as an inexpensive roll of carpet.
Although the physics of one resonating nanoantenna is certainly achievable, the trick to making this work lies in the matrix of complex vast arrays. The trouble will be in predicting the properties and perfecting the design before tackling the manufacturing obstacles that lie ahead. Multiple antennas create complex and sometimes unpredictable interactions. To jump this hurdle the researchers are developing a computer model of the resonance in these invisible structures, seeking out ways to fine-tune the efficiency of an entire array through tinkering with the materials and shapes of the antennas for example. “The ability to model these antennas is what’s going to make is successful, because we can’t see these things,” says Novack. “They are hard to manipulate, and small tweaks are going to make big differences.”
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Very interesting blog! Thanks
This idea was thought of a long time ago and the federal government never wanted to put any money into it, because it was obvious that it was a better way to go. For the originator look up Lepcon, Lumeloid, and Alvin Marks.
Offhand, the proposed device seems to defy the second law of thermodynamics. More information is needed. Where is the increase in entropy? Do these things radiate even longer wavelength photons? The article implies that you could stick one in a beaker of water and the water would freeze while electric power is extracted. The universe does not work that way.
Ramsey is right!
But of course, we learned in school that the Second law of Thermodynamics is not absolute, like the fist.
So a Maxwell Demon could make possible such a "perpetuum mobile" of the second type.
And even if this is not possible in practice, nanoantennas would still make high efficiency photocells for the far infrared, without breaking the Second law ..
I know of no exceptions to the 2nd law of thermodynamics?
Lets do a thought experiment with one of their perfected devices:
Place two glasses of water both at the same temperature in an insulated container with the device in one. Connect its electrical output to a resistor in the other glass. If the device worked the first glass would spontaneously get colder and the second warmer. This never happens in the real world. This to me proves that it cannot work.
For a mechanistic explanation one hangup is with the hypothetical diodes. If one could make a diode with such a low forward voltage why bother with the antennas? Thermal motion of the electrons would drive them through these hypothetical one way valves. Maxwell's demons can not work and never will.
What would happen if a highvoltage field is established between two collector plates. A third plate is heated by whatever scource and placed between the two collector plates. The em radiation from the black body then effecting the dielectric properties of the highvoltage field at a frequency determined by it's heat content. Would the emitted em waves then show up in the hv conductors for harvesting?
Guys; Think of this as an RF antenna tuned for approximately 370THz (the center frequency for the energy being emmitted from our sun). It follows Maxwells equations and resonates the same as your TV antenna. (See research done by Dr. John Bokris at Texas A&M in 1996). Nanoantennas have actually been built and shown to resonate at light frequencies.
The difficulty is constructing the nanoantenna with a tuned wavelength at this frequency in such a manner as to be able to collect and the rectify the energy obtained.
In measuring the efficiency I believe they used IR from a laser turning low entropy coherent light into heat. In absorbing high entropy black body radiation or sunlight would they be any more efficient than black painted tin? With fast diodes with incredibly low forward voltage they might be able to rectify laser light but not black body radiation.
Hey
What are you guys thinking!
This can stop global warming!
You are such nerds! "This wont work because of law of Thermodynamics" Thats how you sound
The technoilogy is not really credible since no rectifier for the proper frequcny exists. With no rectifier the project cannot work.
If it's the law of thernodynamics, then these top scientist will be stupid to waste their time and money, and you without any credentials dispute them. You are arguing high school physics with scientists.
Ultra capacitors can handle high frequency, what the need is a fast recifier, this is the last step, they have to store this absorbed energy first.
Dear WK, Why do you assume that I have no credentials. I hold a Ph.D. in Physical Biochemistry and I taught thermodynamics for 34 years.
Scientific laws are empirical based on observation. No one has ever observed an exception to the 2nd Law. Think about it, if it worked one would be able to use the same energy over an over, heat to electricity and back to heat after turning a motor or lighting a lamp. It will usher in a new world with new physical laws. I am betting that this nanoantenna thing will never work and the DOE wasted a lot of money that could have been spent on worthwhile research.
Have they tried the technology used on the new high tech batteries used at Phoenix motor cars.
http://www.b2i.us/profiles/investor/fullpage.asp?f=1&BzID=546&to=cp&Nav=0&LangID=1&s=0&ID=10701
If they can recharge a batter used in a car in ten minutes, there might be a way to tie the two together...
Once all the problems are solved on how to transfer the energy safely into the battery.
Fantastic invention! This is what I dreamed of as a child, at 14yo. when I drew up plans for a solar car. In resurch, found that the first solar car rolled down Pennsylvania ave. and got burried by the government in 1918. The government, (I'm now 50), is still not smart enough to figure out how to make money out of the Sun, and now wants to use "clean burning coal"? Kudos to you, I want this technology to thrive.
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