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Silicon Seduced From Silica

Posted by Hemos on from the sally-sells-shells-by-the-seashore dept.

Roland Piquepaille writes "Making silicon is an expensive process, which conventionally involves carbothermal reduction, in which the oxygen is removed from silica by a heterogeneous-homogeneous reaction sequence at approximately 1,700 C. Now, Japanese researchers have developed a new technique which uses electricity to remove the oxygen from silica. Their technique is based on the immersion of silica in a bath of molten calcium chloride salt at 850 C, which should reduce the costs of making silicon -- and other elements, like zirconium. Check this column for a summary or read this article from Nature for additional details."

4 of 100 comments (clear)

  1. Prices and Profits by PSL · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Now prices can remain the same while profits go up...

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    "Times may change, but standards must remain the same." - George Carlin.
  2. Great for Solar Energy by markus_baertschi · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The cost of the silicon wafers has an enormous impact on the cost of silicon solar cells. If this cost can be brought down with this new technology suddenly solar energy becomes competitive !

    Markus

  3. Seduced? by turgid · · Score: 2, Insightful
    Surely you mean reduced?

    Remember your chemistry? REG and LEO? Reduction is Electron Gain, Loss of Electrons is Oxidation

    The fact that oxygen is being removed from the compound should have given you a clue.

    --
    Stick Men
  4. Re:zirconium! by simong_oz · · Score: 5, Insightful

    okay. start my own rant.

    As an engineer I get fed up with people claiming product X is stronger than steel, etc, etc. You almost always (as in the case of spectra) find that what they are talking about is specific strength, which measures mechanical strength per unit weight. It doesn't mean it's stronger than steel. The modulus of steel (el cheapo low carbon) is roughly 200GPa, spectra is 60-124 or less than half as strong.

    the tensile strength of 3GPa is the UTS - ultimate tensile strength. UTS is where the material catastrophically, and unrecoverably, fails. The material will have yielded (and possibly weakened) well before this stress level is reached.

    Steel will almost always be the basic material of choice, except when weight is important, for the simple reasons that it is strong, easy to work with, easy to manufacture into almost anything and, most importantly, cheap.

    okay. end my own rant :)

    --
    "Because it's there." - George Mallory, when asked why he wanted to climb Mt Everest, March 18, 1923 (New York Times)