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Creating Electric Power From Light Using Gold Nanoparticles

Posted by Soulskill on from the nanite-power-supply dept.

cyberfringe writes "Professor of Materials Science Dawn Bonnell and colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania have discovered a way to turn optical radiation into electrical current that could lead to self-powering molecular circuits and efficient data storage. They create surface plasmons that ride the surface of gold nanoparticles on a glass substrate. Surface plasmons were found to increase the efficiency of current production by a factor of four to 20, and with many independent parameters to optimize, enhancement factors could reach into the thousands. 'If the efficiency of the system could be scaled up without any additional, unforeseen limitations, we could conceivably manufacture a 1A, 1V sample the diameter of a human hair and an inch long,' Prof. Bonnell explained. The academic paper was published in the current issue of ACS Nano. (Abstract available for free.) The significance? This may allow the creation of nano-sized circuits that can power themselves through sunlight (or another directed light source). Delivery of power to nanodevices is one of the big challenges in the field."

4 of 77 comments (clear)

  1. No by sakdoctor · · Score: 3, Funny

    If the efficiency of the system could be scaled up without any additional, unforeseen limitations

    No

  2. Get with the program, editors! by pushing-robot · · Score: 2, Funny

    It's been a whole month since the last amazing-solar-tech-real-soon-now article. I expect to be entertained by visions of our solar-powered utopian future on at least a weekly basis.

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    How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
  3. Plasmons Surfing ... by WrongSizeGlass · · Score: 3, Funny

    They create surface plasmons that ride the surface of gold nanoparticles on a glass substrate.

    Boy, does that take me back to my days in the college dorms ... good times.

  4. Re:TFA uses Bad Math! by pushing-robot · · Score: 2, Funny

    The researchers also applied for a patent on an intriguing device which takes advantage of silicon dioxide's curious ability to reduce the speed of light as photons pass through it, and can, in certain configurations, be exploited to redirect light or even concentrate it in a small area.

    --
    How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?