Research on new types of photovoltaic panels

A properly engineered pathogen would increase the efficiency of photovoltaic cells by at least a third. It would cost almost nothing to implement it in the standard production process

Rome - A research team at MIT promises to provide a response to those who are looking for a cheap and feasible way to increase the efficiency of energy production of solar cells. About a genetically modified virus and carbon nanotubes. 

In particular, scientists at MIT have discovered that it is possible to use the M13 virus - which usually infects bacteria - to control the assembling of nanotubes on the surface of the photovoltaic cell to "improve".

The use of nanotubes for photovoltaic applications is a tool bifronte, seen that the material has on cells in a double configuration - one equipped with the electrical properties of a semiconductor and the other of those of a metal.

The two types of nanotubes tend to have contrasting effects on the transformation of sunlight into energy, say from MIT, but integrating into the mix clusters of M13 you get to the assembly of organized structures with semiconducting nanotubes and metallic ones well separated from each other.

The results of the experiments conducted so far have led to an increase in efficiency in energy production 8 to 10, 6% - almost one third compared to the values of traditional cells. The researchers say they can further increase the efficiency, and also promise that their improvement method does not require the addition of single-pass current production chain of the photovoltaic cells.

 

03/05/2011

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Translated via software

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Source:

Italian version of ReteArchitetti.it