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Invisible Solar Nano Cells Promise Clean Energy

Posted by samzenpus on from the that-covers-all-the-buzzwords dept.

An anonymous reader writes "ZDNet is reporting that Harvard scientists have developed a silicon nanowire 200 hundred times thinner than a human hair that crank out up to 200 picowatts. Charles Leiber from Harvard University, who devised the technology with colleagues, is quoted: "An individual nanoelectronic device will indeed consume very little power, but to do something interesting will require many interconnected devices and thus the power requirement — even for nanosystems — can be a challenge". Conventional sources, he added, are "bulky, non-renewable and expensive" by comparison."

4 of 88 comments (clear)

  1. I Hate Science Reporting by MBCook · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Virtually invisible to the naked eye, a single strand can crank out up to 200 picowatts.

    I hate science reporting. It's also nice to know the editors aren't doing their jobs (ZDNet, I don't blame /.). What is a single strand? Is that 10mm long? 10cm? 1m? There is a big difference between those three. The summary just chops that sentence up worse. And why do they always use human hair as a comparison? Who's hair is that? Some people have very thin hair. For some people it is quite a bit thicker. If you are comparing it to the average, you should include that word. Also are we talking theoretical maximum or a practical estimation under normal daylight conditions?

    It's great to know this generates 200 picowatts per something. How about comparing it to a normal production solar cell. I'm glad you can make it thin, but it must need some kind of support structure to survive, so how much thicker does it need to be so it is actually useful? After all, the silicon part of a solar cell is just a fraction of it's thickness.

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    Comment forecast: Bits of genius surrounded by a sea of mediocrity.
    1. Re:I Hate Science Reporting by Falstius · · Score: 5, Insightful
      As someone who teaches MEMs technology, I find myself frequently using the human hair comparison with new students. It is the closet thing to a microstructure that people have daily physical experience with, and helps give a feeling of scale. A 200 micron wide bridge is an abstract number until you understand it is about 1 to 4 hair-widths (depending on whose hair). Its not nearly as meaningless of a unit as LOCs (Libraries of Congress). If you have a better suggestion for a comparison, I'd love to hear it.

      Your point about leaving off the length is a good one. Science journalists don't seem to understand enough about what they're covering to know which points are important or which claims are plausible.

  2. I wonder by Dr.+Eggman · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Any biologists out there who wishes to inform me of how this solar cell compares in efficiency and equivalent energy production for photosynthesis. I understand that they're are two very different forms of energy (storage medium may be a better comparison) but I would be interested as I have thought that perhaps natural evolution had already long ago derived the most efficient ways of recovering energy to drive its organisms. I wonder if the real future of small scale generators/batteries lies with organic synthesis of energy through genetically modified organism with some medium transforming the resulting chemical energy into electrical energy (not unlike a battery but with it's own complications necessary for dealing in the organic compounds) rather than straight up developing life-facsimiles.

    Then again maybe I'm just rambling on after approaching the 40th consecutive waking hour... It'd be nice to know.

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    Demented But Determined.
  3. Hey.... by DoofusOfDeath · · Score: 5, Funny

    "Invisible" "Solar" "Nano" "Cells" ... "Clean Energy"

    I WON SLASHDOT BINGO!!!