Its tough to build solar cells that capture both heat and light — most of these multi-talented devices cant trap more than one percent of the energy they receive. However, MIT has just blown past that limitation with a prototype chip that absorbs warmth through an outer layer of carbon nanotubes. The tubing heats up photonic crystals so much that they glow with an intense light, giving an attached solar cell more energy than it would collect through sunlight alone.
Comments are closed.
