Green Technology

Researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz collaborate globally to experiment at the nanoscale to control the generation, transport and storage of electrons, in order to improve the conversion of solar energy into electricity. ...

... "Combining these two approaches appears to yield better solar cell materials than either one alone does, according to Jin Zhang, professor of chemistry at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Zhang led a team of researchers from California, Mexico, and China that created a thin film doped with nitrogen and sensitized with quantum dots. When tested, the new nanocomposite material performed better than predicted - as if the functioning of the whole material was greater than the sum of its two individual components. The resulting hybrid material offered a combination of advantages. Nitrogen doping allowed the material to absorb a broad range of light energy, including energy from the visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum. The quantum dots also enhanced visible light absorption and boosted the photocurrent and power conversion of the material. When compared with materials that were just doped with nitrogen or just embedded with cadmium selenide quantum dots, the nanocomposite showed higher performance ... " ...

Via University of California at Santa Cruz: New nanostructured thin film