New materials take the heat
From Boston, at a meeting of the Materials Research Society
Silicon is the workhorse material for solar cells, but some researchers have been developing inorganic nanoparticles combined with dye molecules as a potentially cheaper alternative. However, high temperatures and prolonged exposure to light can wreck these materials, making them impractical for outdoor applications such as solar panels. A research group led by Michael Grätzel at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne claims it has found a way to stabilize these dye-sensitized materials.