A new technique developed by Electrical and Computer
Engineering (ECE) Professor Ted Sargent, Canada Research Chair in Nanotechnology,
and his research group could lead to significantly more efficient solar cells,
according to a recent paper published in the journal Nano Letters.
The paper, “Jointly-tuned plasmonic-excitonic photovoltaics
using nanoshells,” describes a new technique to improve efficiency in colloidal
quantum dot photovoltaics, a technology which already promises inexpensive,
more efficient solar cell technology. Quantum dot photovoltaics offers the
potential for low-cost, large-area solar power – however these devices are not
yet highly efficient in the infrared portion of the sun’s spectrum, which is
responsible for half of the sun’s power that reaches the Earth.