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Solar Breakthrough: Cheap Quantum Dot Solar Paint
Oilprice.com ^ | 24/12/2011 | John Daly

Posted on 12/28/2011 1:22:04 PM PST by bananaman22

Researchers have reduced the preparation time of quantum dot solar cells to less than an hour by changing the form to a one-coat quantum dot solar paint.

How?

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles are coated with cadmium sulfide (CdS) or cadmium selenide (CdSe.) The composite nanoparticles, when mixed with a solvent, form a paste that can be applied as one-step paint to a transparent conducting material, which creates electricity when exposed to light.

Although the paint form is currently about five times less efficient than the highest recorded efficiency for the multifilm form, the researchers predict that its efficiency can be improved, which could lead to a simple and economically viable way to prepare solar cells.

The scientists responsible for the research breakthrough, Mathew P. Genovese of the University of Waterloo in Canada, with Ian V. Lightcap and Prashant V. Kamat of the Radiation Laboratory and Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, will be publishing their study in an upcoming issue of the American Chemical Society’s publication Nano.

During an interview with PhysOrg.com Professor Kamat, John A. Zahm Professor of Science in Chemistry and Biochemistry and an investigator in Notre Dame’s Center for Nano Science and Technology (NDnano) and who led the research, explained, “Quantum dots are semiconductor nanocrystals which exhibit size-dependent optical and electronic properties. In a quantum dot sensitized solar cell, the excitation of semiconductor quantum dot or semiconductor nanocrystal is followed by electron injection into TiO2 nanoparticles. These electrons are then transferred to the collecting electrode surface to generate photocurrent.

The holes that remain in the semiconductor quantum dot are Full article at: Solar Breakthrough: Cheap Quantum Dot Solar Paint


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: nanoparticles; science; solarenergy; technology
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1 posted on 12/28/2011 1:22:15 PM PST by bananaman22
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To: bananaman22

If I use quantum paint does that mean if I wait until tomorrow to paint my house it will show up painted today?


2 posted on 12/28/2011 1:24:42 PM PST by freedumb2003 (Spoiler Alert! The secret to Terra Nova: THEY ARE ALL DEAD!!!)
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To: bananaman22
All of a sudden I'm less excited.

the paint form is currently about five times less efficient than the highest recorded efficiency for the multifilm form

3 posted on 12/28/2011 1:29:06 PM PST by DManA
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To: freedumb2003

No. It means that no matter when you paint it, you can never really be sure you did.


4 posted on 12/28/2011 1:29:06 PM PST by wolfpat (Not to know what has been transacted in former times is to be always a child. -- Cicero)
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To: freedumb2003

Sherman Williams tried to sell me this stuff today....$2,000 per gallon. Payback was some time after my great great grandchild would hit 65. /s


5 posted on 12/28/2011 1:30:27 PM PST by Recon Dad (Gas & Petroleum Junkie)
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To: wolfpat

>>No. It means that no matter when you paint it, you can never really be sure you did.<<

A just as I suspected — Quanta=Whiskey!


6 posted on 12/28/2011 1:31:01 PM PST by freedumb2003 (Spoiler Alert! The secret to Terra Nova: THEY ARE ALL DEAD!!!)
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To: wolfpat

It means you’ve already painted, are currently painting it, and will paint it in at infinite amount of colors with your wife nagging you infinitely because it never seems to get done.


7 posted on 12/28/2011 1:32:34 PM PST by Jack Hydrazine (It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine!)
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To: freedumb2003

No, but if you paint your car and run over a cat, the cat remains alive just as long as you don’t look at it.


8 posted on 12/28/2011 1:33:58 PM PST by Jewbacca (The residents of Iroquois territory may not determine whether Jews may live in Jerusalem.)
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To: DManA

Depends upon whether the “cheap” aspect holds up in comparison, doesn’t it?

If it’s 10X less costly, then 5X less efficient won’t be all that big a concern. The price to power a well pump, hot water heater, heatpump or a whole house would still be cut in half compared to multifilm if that were the case. Well, less inverters, etcetera which may or may not be equivalent.


9 posted on 12/28/2011 1:36:42 PM PST by RegulatorCountry
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To: freedumb2003

It means you may have painted it, or you may be going to paint it, but whether you did/do or not, you can/will never be certain if you did/do—but you can always ask your cat.


10 posted on 12/28/2011 1:38:14 PM PST by Sudetenland (Anybody but Obama!!!!)
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To: bananaman22

...another “not quite useful” solar product that requires a few trillion more in taxpayer funding!


11 posted on 12/28/2011 1:41:20 PM PST by Erik Latranyi
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To: bananaman22

I am actually hopeful about some sort of cheap solar power. It’s my best shot at getting off the grid and I suspect it is for most of us who want to have a lot less to do with power companies. This could be cool.


12 posted on 12/28/2011 1:43:13 PM PST by muir_redwoods (No wonder this administration favors abortion; everything they have done is an abortion)
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To: DManA
Although the paint form is currently about five times less efficient than the highest recorded efficiency for the multifilm form

Just make the area 5 times larger...like on a huge solar farm.

13 posted on 12/28/2011 1:48:02 PM PST by Bloody Sam Roberts (Some folks need an education...don't give up or we'll lose the Nation - Grand Funk Railroad)
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To: bananaman22
Highly efficient solar cells could result from quantum dot research
14 posted on 12/28/2011 2:02:13 PM PST by Pontiac (The welfare state must fail because it is contrary to human nature and diminishes the human spirit.)
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To: bananaman22

Too bad cadmium is carcinogenic. The environmental regulatory costs of using cadmium sulfate instead of TiO2 may well offset the other savings.


15 posted on 12/28/2011 2:18:39 PM PST by rfp1234 (RFP's Law: Whoever blames Bush first shall lose the argument.)
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To: rfp1234
(Correction) Too bad cadmium is carcinogenic. The environmental regulatory costs of using cadmium sulfate instead of to coat the TiO2 may well offset the other savings.
16 posted on 12/28/2011 2:22:01 PM PST by rfp1234 (RFP's Law: Whoever blames Bush first shall lose the argument.)
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To: Jewbacca

LOL. That’s pretty good.


17 posted on 12/28/2011 3:08:00 PM PST by Boiler Plate ("Why be difficult, when with just a little more work, you can be impossible" Mom)
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To: Jewbacca

LOL. That’s pretty good.


18 posted on 12/28/2011 3:08:25 PM PST by Boiler Plate ("Why be difficult, when with just a little more work, you can be impossible" Mom)
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To: Jewbacca

LOL. That’s pretty good.


19 posted on 12/28/2011 3:08:25 PM PST by Boiler Plate ("Why be difficult, when with just a little more work, you can be impossible" Mom)
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To: DManA

But it makes up for it in cost.

For about the same that it would cost you to paint your house, you could coat your house with this stuff and keep your house warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer.


20 posted on 12/28/2011 3:15:38 PM PST by Jonty30 (What Islam and secularism have in common is that they are both death cults.)
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