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Nanotechnology Boosts Solar Cell Performance
Roland Piquepaille writes "Physicists from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) say they have improved the performance of solar cells by 60 percent. And they obtained this spectacular result by using a very simple trick. They've coated the solar cells with a film of 1-nanometer thick silicon fluorescing nanoparticles. The researchers also said that this process could be easily incorporated into the manufacturing process of solar cells with very little additional cost. Read more for additional references and a photo of a researcher holding a silicon solar cell coated with a film of silicon nanoparticles."
Only if you live on mercury.
Still pretty useful though I bet.. but:
As the alcohol evaporated, a film of closely packed nanoparticles was left firmly fastened to the solar cell.
Whoa, whoa, whoa! Back up, bad idea!
(yeah I know it's only isopropyl alcohol. but still never something you want to hear!)
"(I choose to use "harvest" specifically because they capture energy from the sun rather than generating from oil for example) over the expected lifetime of the panels."
And how do you think plants get their energy? By burning dinosaurs?
So now I can use my calculator with my black light......groovy!
Hahahahahaha. Man, you totally missed his point.
He wasn't talking about the effect it might have on the environment. He was joking about "alcohol" as in booze being left out and undrunk long enough that it evaporated.
See, in a place like Ireland it's considered near criminal to waste ale or lager. So the thought of alcohol evaporating is a disturbing thought to most Irishmen and Irishwomen. It bothers them much like the thought of global warming bothers environmentalists.
I've asked that question after every Gerard Depardieu movie.
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