New technique developed at Brookhaven Lab makes
self-assembly 1,000 times faster and could be used for industrial-scale solar
panels and electronics
(May 14, 2015) Nanoscale
materials feature extraordinary, billionth-of-a-meter qualities that transform
everything from energy generation to data storage. But while a nanostructured
solar cell may be fantastically efficient, that precision is notoriously
difficult to achieve on industrial scales. The solution may be self-assembly,
or training molecules to stitch themselves together into high-performing
configurations.
Now, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s
Brookhaven National Laboratory have developed a laser-based technique to
execute nanoscale self-assembly with unprecedented ease and efficiency.