Nanotech goes solar
GreenHeating.Org are reporting that nanotechnology is now making it in to solar cells. A kind of nano-fuzz coats the interior of the solar panels and forms a conductive layer which better transfers heat down through the photovoltaic surface. Neat!
As usual you’ve got to wonder how long it’ll be before we see this kind of thing “in stores” though. It looks like the project is still at the research stage and a few different approaches are being tried by the nanotech engineering departments of various prestigious academic institutions. Give them three or four years to figure out whose system is best, then another couple of years to get the product to market, and we might see solar panels that actually use this technology some time by 2015. *sigh*
It’s a shame solar energy isn’t bigger business: if it were you can be sure projects like this would receive the attention - not to mention funding - they deserve. As it stands the sad fact is it’s probably only reached this far due to the support from German universities, where solar is a huge commercial concern. When more nations adopt mass-market solar power as the German people have we’ll see more of these advances, until we can finally claim all the energy we need from renewable sources.
