Transparent Solar Panels?!

Опубликовано 27 июля 2017, 14:34

Infinitesimally small quantum dots can turn a window into a see-through solar panel!

Thanks to the University of Minnesota for sponsoring this video! twin-cities.umn.edu

Thanks also to our supporters on patreon.com/MinuteEarth
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If you want to learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords:
Solar window: a window that functions like an ordinary window but also generates power like a solar panel

Nanoparticle (also called nanopowder or nanocluster or nanocrystal): a microscopic particle with at least one dimension less than 100 nm. These tiny objects often have characteristics that differ from larger versions of the same material.

Quantum dots (QD): tiny nanoparticles of some kind of semiconducting material, only several nanometers in size, so small that their optical and electronic properties differ from those of larger particles. The QDs embedded in solar windows can absorb radiation largely in short wavelengths and re-emit in longer wavelengths; useful for capturing solar energy and successfully transferring it to the solar cells on the edges of the pane.

Total internal reflection: a phenomenon in which a wave hits a medium boundary at such an angle that it doesn't pass through to the other side
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Credits (and Twitter handles):
Script Writers: Peter Reich & Emily Elert
Script Editor: Alex Reich (@alexhreich)
Video Illustrator: Qingyang Chen (@QCVisual)
Video Director: Kate Yoshida (@KateYoshida)
Video Narrator: Kate Yoshida (@KateYoshida)
With Contributions From: Henry Reich, Ever Salazar, Emily Elert, Peter Reich, David Goldenberg
Music by: Nathaniel Schroeder: soundcloud.com/drschroeder

Image Credits: Thumbnail: R. Lunt, MSU.
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References:

Bradshaw, L. R., Knowles, K. E., McDowall, S. & Gamelin, D. R. Nanocrystals for luminescent solar concentrators. Nano Lett. 15, 1315–1323 (2015).

Meinardi, F., Ehrenberg, S., Dhamo, L., Carulli, F., Mauri, M., Bruni, F., Simonutti, R., Kortshagen, U. and Brovelli, S., 2017. Highly efficient luminescent solar concentrators based on earth-abundant indirect-bandgap silicon quantum dots. Nature Photonics, 11(3), pp.177-185.

Meinardi, F. et al. Highly efficient large-area colourless luminescent solar concentrators using heavy-metal-free colloidal quantum dots. Nat. Nanotech.10, 878–885 (2015).

Yang, C, R. R. Lunt. Limits of Visibly Transparent Luminescent Solar Concentrators. Adv. Opt. Mat., 5, 8, 1600851, 2017.

Zhao Y., G. Meek, B. Levine, and R. R. Lunt, “Near-Infrared Harvesting Transparent Luminescent Solar Concentrators”. Adv. Opt. Mat., 2, 606, 2014.