Stanford University scientists have created the thinnest,
most efficient absorber of visible light on record. The nanosize structure,
thousands of times thinner than an ordinary sheet of paper, could lower the
cost and improve the efficiency of solar cells, according to the scientists.
Their results are published in the current online edition of the journal Nano
Letters ("Self-Assembly Based Plasmonic Arrays Tuned by Atomic Layer
Deposition for Extreme Visible Light Absorption").