Silicon nanocrystals show promise for solar cells
By Matthew Miller, Editor in Chief, EDN.com -- EDN, January 10, 2008
Speaking of qualities of silicon that scientists once thought nonexistent (see “Silicon fatigue: not a myth”), researchers at the US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory have shown that silicon nanocrystals exhibit multiple-exciton generation, meaning that they emit more than one electron per absorbed photon. In theory, solar cells harnessing this effect could achieve efficiency of 44% using sunlight and as much as 68% using sunlight that lenses or mirrors have concentrated. Conventional solar cells deliver 33 and 40% efficiency, respectively.
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