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October 18, 2007
Invisible solar nano-cells
Invisible solar nano-cells promise clean energy: News - Hardware - ZDNet Australia
Scientists have developed solar cells 200 hundred times thinner than a human hair that could power the nanoscale gadgetry of tomorrow.
From consumer devices to bioterrorism monitors to in-body diagnostics, this ultra-microscopic technology is poised to take centre stage in less than a decade from now. But finding the sources to power these devices was an issues.
However, Charles Leiber and colleagues at Harvard University, have devised a 'silicon nanowire' that can convert light into electrical energy.
Virtually invisible to the naked eye, a single strand can crank out up to 200 picowatts.
Two hundred billionths of a watt may not seem much, but at nanoscale it is enough to provide a steady output of electricity to run ultralow power electronics, including some that could be worn on -- or even inside -- the body.
It is also clean, highly efficient and renewable.
Posted by Sun at October 18, 2007 05:57 PM