Notice the energy conversion efficiency is 0.57% and the fabrication process is quite
sophisticated, requirng exotic Fullerene chemicals and other sonatic lab gear.
Compare that to a classic Dye-sensitized cell one can make at home with titanium
dioxide and rasberry juice... but delivers 0.45% energy efficiency.
The DIY solar cell recipe below achieves nano-level self-assembly with TiO2 instead
of bucky balls and outputs 0.43 V and 1 mA/cm2. Titanium Dioxide is very inexpensive
because it's most common ingredient used in white pigment.
http://www.solideas.com/solrcell/english.html
How useful is this much power?
Consider that a cheap Nokia phone requires 3.7 volts at 140, which equates to 0.518 watts
of power needed to charge it. That means one of the cells above,no larger than a square foot,
could do the job... on a sunny day.
http://www.knowprose.com/node/8906
Slashdot Mirror
Notice the energy conversion efficiency is 0.57% and the fabrication process is quite sophisticated, requirng exotic Fullerene chemicals and other sonatic lab gear.
Compare that to a classic Dye-sensitized cell one can make at home with titanium dioxide and rasberry juice... but delivers 0.45% energy efficiency.
The DIY solar cell recipe below achieves nano-level self-assembly with TiO2 instead of bucky balls and outputs 0.43 V and 1 mA/cm2. Titanium Dioxide is very inexpensive because it's most common ingredient used in white pigment. http://www.solideas.com/solrcell/english.html
How useful is this much power? Consider that a cheap Nokia phone requires 3.7 volts at 140, which equates to 0.518 watts of power needed to charge it. That means one of the cells above,no larger than a square foot, could do the job... on a sunny day. http://www.knowprose.com/node/8906
Interesting note that a 14 year old girl won a Discovery Channel Science Award testing one of these home-made TiO2 cells. http://school.discovery.com/sciencefaircentral/dys c/finalists/profiles/kumar_asmita.html