XYZ lab researching better solar cell

Semiconductor nanocrystals

Jon Boyd, Aug 08, 10.

XYZ lab, led by a Texas researcher, is looking for ways to make solar cells more efficient, reports the Austin Statesman (via Off the Kuff):

A research team led by [UT chemistry professor Xiaoyang] Zhu, who refers to his Center for Materials Chemistry as the XYZ Lab, has shown that it’s possible to convert much more of the sun’s energy to electricity than conventional solar cells are able to generate. The conventional cells, which are made of silicon, turn no more than about 20 percent of the energy into juice, and their maximum theoretical efficiency is only 31 percent because of technical limitations.

By using a compound called lead selenide in the form of quantum dots, also called semiconductor nanocrystals, and by routing electrons stirred up by the sunlight from the lead selenide to another compound called titanium dioxide, the researchers showed that it’s theoretically possible to harvest 66 percent of the energy.

To put it another way, the XYZ group has figured out some of the ABCs of a better solar cell. Any commercial application is years in the future because considerably more scientific and engineering work needs to be done.

The team’s findings, published recently in the scholarly journal Science, are part of a growing body of research aimed at improving the efficiency — and reducing the cost — of solar cells. The goal is to make solar energy a viable alternative to fossil fuels that contribute to global warming and to dependence on supplies in politically volatile parts of the world.