Chia Pet meets the solar cell

Energy & Sustainability Science

Gareth Branwyn is a freelance writer and the former Editorial Director of Maker Media. He is the author or editor of over a dozen books on technology, DIY, and geek culture. He is currently a contributor to Boing Boing, Wink Books, and Wink Fun. His free weekly-ish maker tips newsletter can be found at garstipsandtools.com.

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May 20th, 2008 4

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego have come up with a way of making solar photovoltaic cells more efficient by making them fuzzy with nanowires.

Boosting solar cell efficiency
The idea is [to] use nanowires to more efficiently conduct electrons from the collection surface of the solar cell to an electrode. Contemporary thin-film solar cells provide no direct conduit for electron travel.

If the process scales well, it has the potential to dramatically improve the efficiency of next-generation solar photovoltaic panels.

Hairy Solar Cells Could Mean Higher Efficiency

4 thoughts on “Chia Pet meets the solar cell”

Anonymous says:

January 19th, 2009 at 8:51 am

This picture is actually GaN nanowires grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST.)
http://www.boulder.nist.gov/div815/SGD_Project/Accomplishments.htm
Dalton Helton says:

April 13th, 2011 at 12:15 pm

would you be interested in an art contest with chia seeds if so go to chachia.me/tenors

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Chia Pet meets the solar cell

By Gareth Branwyn