Natcore's black solar cells

Well, first off I must apologize for what seems to be a lack of article writing on my part. But, the thing is, I have not been writing because of an apparent lack of things to talk about. In fact, every day I have a seemingly humongous amount of emails to sort through. It has just been that nothing in them seemed noteworthy until now.

The latest development in photovoltaics (solar electric panels if you will) is brought to us by Natcore; their development is a synergistic effect between solar and nanotechnology. See they, in cooperation with NREL (National Renewable Laboratories) have developed a type of solar panel with the ability to capture about 97% of the light which reaches its surface.

They have been able to do this by employing the nanotechnology to their solar cells. See, you may be unaware of the fact that light, when going from one medium to another, actually experiences refractive qualities. But their process actually cuts out the refraction seen by modern solar panels. What they have achieved, by etching the silicon ever so slightly, is an air-to-air transition; thereby eliminating nearly all the properties of light with respect to refraction.

Of course you cannot go out and buy such just yet. They have to either ramp up their production facilities to accommodate the new panels. See this trick if you will employs hydrofluoric acid in the etching of silicon. If you wish to read more about this new solar cell and its actual production you may do so here.

.I say kudos to both Natcore and NREL in the hopes that they can perfect such technology and bring it to market where we could purchase these new, more efficient panels.