Light-absorbing nanowires

A century after German physicist Gustav Mie derived the math to explain why the colors in some stained glass windows look especially resplendent in the sunlight, a team of Stanford engineers has built upon his work to potentially improve a means of harvesting energy from the sun.

In 1907 Mie realized that tiny metal particles in stained glass scattered light in ways that produced beautiful colors. Now, a related interplay between light and matter explains why incredibly thin "nanowires" made of semiconductors like germanium may prove to be effective components for solar cells. Combining Mie's work with more recent theory, the Stanford team has discerned how to tune and improve the light absorption efficiency of the wires. Their research appears in the July 5 online edition of the journal Nature Materials.

Labels: Nano Solar, nanowires, Solar News, solar panels, Solar Stocks, Solar Technology

posted by Ertai at 1:30 PM