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Nanopillar Solar May Cost 10x Less Than Silicon
Al writes "A team of researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, have developed a new kind of flexible solar cell that could be far cheaper to make than conventional silicon photovoltaics. The cells consist of an array of 500-nanometer-high cadmium sulfide pillars printed on top of an aluminum foil — the material surrounding the pillars absorbs light and releases electrons, while the pillars themselves transport the electrons to an electrical circuit. The closely packed pillars trap light between them, helping the surrounding material absorb more. This means the electrons also have a very short distance to travel through the pillars, so there are fewer chances of their getting trapped at defects and its possible to use low-quality, less expensive materials. '"You won't know the cost until you do this using a roll-to-roll process," says lead researchers Ali Javey. "But if you can do it, the cost could be 10 times less than what's used to make [crystalline] silicon panels."'"
Well I have a car that I built that gets 100000000 miles per gallon, and never needs to be filled up!!! But I have not yet tested it to make sure it works....
In short... I am really getting tired of all these "researchers" talking about them developing the thing that will change the world, but always seem to put the "yeah it might work, but we will not know until you actually try manufacturing it"..... Meaning, they annouce their world discovery before actually making sure it works not yet tested the manufacturing process to prove it. If it really was that good, then why would they talk about it after they prove the concept first... Money is never a problem if you can show it works...
WOw, then we can cap and trade more demand into it and profit everywhere.