Reply #42: Ah, but can the quantum dots be used for these? [View All]

[skids]

The operation of a Luminescent Solar Concentrators (LSC) is based on absorption of solar radiation in a collector containing a fluorescent species in which the emission bands have little or no overlap with the absorption bands. The fluorescence emission is trapped by total internal reflection and concentrated at the edges of the collector which is usually a thin glass plate.

http://www.solgel.com/articles/Sept01/ren_solar.htm

...now that would be something :-)

(The same idea is also used with thermophotovoltaic cells -- sunlight -- or something else -- heats a material that gives out a narrow high-IR emmission band, which is located right above a PV cell that acts on that frequency of IR.)

Along with the recent nanocrystal cells and other "light antenna" endeavors, nanotech is on the cusp of revolutionizing solar power. Now all we need is investment in scaling up manufacturing of the new technologies. So far only CIGS and the older plastics are produced in any respectable quantity at all.