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Could we have a hand in this?? Good to see CSP is going by the wayside.
UPDATE: Masdar Says Plans 100 MW Photovoltaic Power Plant - Zawya Dow Jones News
Sunday, Jan 16, 2011
(Adds details, background.)
ABU DHABI (Zawya Dow Jones)--Abu Dhabi government-owned Masdar, the renewable energy company, is planning to build a 100 megawatt photovoltaic, or PV, power plant, taking advantage of lower PV costs compared to concentrated solar power, a company executive said Sunday.
"Our power unit, which is working on renewable projects, is working on a PV plant, Noor 1," Afshin Afshari, manager of energy management at Masdar City, told reporters.
"Originally, we had planned on using only CSP [concentrated solar power], but the cost of PV had come down significantly and continues to come down," Afshari said. "It will be even cheaper next year."
Masdar is already building a $600 million, 100 megawatt CSP plant in Abu Dhabi with France's Total S.A. (TOT) and Spain's Abengoa Solar (ABG.MC). Masdar, which owns 60% of the project, appointed the partners in June last year. Total and Abengoa each own 20%.
Masdar last year reviewed its plans for Masdar City, the real-estate part of its initiative, and revised its delivery timeline for the carbon-neutral development, as a global financial crisis tempered Abu Dhabi's plans. Abu Dhabi, the largest emirate in the U.A.E. and home to most of the country's crude oil, has set a target to generate 7% of its power from renewable sources by 2020.
Masdar has said the review allowed it to cut its original budget of $22 billion by 10-15% without changing its targets.
"There's more focus now over financial viability and making sure the technological choices we make are optimal from both the energy and financial points of view," Afshari said Sunday. "We're now more focused on making our buildings more efficient rather than putting PVs everywhere."
Masdar is increasing efficiency measures, such as insulation in walls, before resorting to expensive renewable energy, he said.
Planned to be the world's first city powered entirely by renewable energy sources, Masdar City will need to seek off-site sources of power as more of the city is built, Afshari added. Masdar Institute, the project's research and educational arm, and the complex site are now powered by a 10 megawatt PV power plant that is also connected to Abu Dhabi's electricity grid.
"As new buildings come online in a year or two, we will probably need to seek alternative sources of power," he said.
The development is now "energy positive," or generating more power over 24 hours than is used, he added. Masdar Institute and the site are powered by 10 megawatt from the power plant and 1 megawatt from solar panels on the Institute's roof. PV panels on the roof of Masdar's headquarters, expected to be complete in three years, will add an additional three megawatt.
"Beyond that, we are using non-power renewable energy," Afshari said.
Masdar is building a pilot project to test geothermal energy, drilling two 2.5 kilometers-deep holes into the ground to convert warm ground water into chilled water that can be used for district cooling.
-By Nour Malas, Dow Jones Newswires, +97150 2890223; nour.malas@dowjones.com
Copyright (c) 2011 Dow Jones & Co.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
16-01-11 1341GMT
Happy New Year to all! Thanks to all board members that contribute in a meaningful way. This time next year we will be either at or arranging a trip to meet in.... Bora Bora??(I'm open to suggestions) Thanks to Steve Squires and the team he has assembled. GLTA
Woof think of the profit... 100kg = 100,000 grams per day! Our cost as per Jabbour speech $15-20 per gram. Even if we sold as cheap as $50 per gram net profit $30 x 100,000= $3,000,000 per day per reactor. On average 288 days per year = $ 864 million per year in qd sales. Now I'm not sure how many grams are required for a solar panel or a qled display. I will send Dr Bob a email and see if he will share some info. Still we will be producing unheard of amounts of qds at $50 per gram vs other companies idea of mass production being grams per week in thousands of dollars.
This is going to be the stock of 2011 IMHO
National Post Energizer Article
http://www.nationalpost.com/todays-paper/Vanadium+Energy+Holy+Grail/3949307/story.html
Quantum dot displays may trump OLED's for most awesome TV screens.
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/12/quantum-dot-displays-may-trump-oleds-for-most-awesome-tv-screens.php
Q-dot future is looking bright. We are on the verge of something big IMHO
Barrymore FYI it's Richard Chancis. You might want to get his name right before you give him a ring.
Lol Rondo, when has Sully's posts ever been censored? Not everyone agrees with his thoughts but don't make baseless accusations.
IMHO this is going to be a big winner.
GLTA
Flowid has updated there site with reference to Solterra. In addition they have an update on the Hoogewerff Stimuleringsprijs’ (easy for them to say) award.
Eindhoven, The Netherlands, October 27th 2010 – During the NPS10 symposium in Veldhoven on the 26th of October, The Hoogewerff Foundation awarded Flowid B.V. with the honorable ‘Hoogewerff Stimuleringsprijs’ for their innovative approach and ground breaking work on the implementation of microreactor technology for production purposesJeoffrey van den Berg, Managing Director of Flowid, comments: “It is a great honor receiving this prize. Especially when realizing that prominent Dutch chemical engineers had an important role in addressing this prize to Flowid. We feel strengthened in our approach and are encouraged to keep innovating”. Wessel Hengeveld, Director Technology of Flowid, adds to this: “Winning this award is not only important for Flowid, it is also important for the technology. By awarding this price to Flowid, The Hoogerwerff Foundation acknowledges that microreactors are a high potential technology for the chemical industry, with Flowid as trustful partner for production implementation
Solterra Renewable Technologies Inc.
Solterra Renewable Technologies Inc. is the first company to introduce a new dimension of cost reduction by replacing silicon wafer based solar cells with low cost highly efficient Quantum Dot based solar cells. Solterra has asked Flowid and FutureChemistry to cooperate in a project for combining their knowledge and technology into a newly developed production plant. Flowid and FutureChemistry will develop a method for manufacturing quantum dots in continuous flow on a laboratory scale, subsequently design, develop and install an operational plant for manufacturing quantum dots in continuous flow on a production scale.
Steve Squires, Chief Executive Officer of Solterra, commented, “We are very pleased with this collaboration and are eagerly looking forward to fruitful efforts with both FutureChemistry and Flowid. Their leading edge work essentially allows the Company to overcome barriers to entry of high volume, high tech markets. The imminent ability to sell stand alone quantum dots in large quantities at attractive pricing into various markets, while continuing to develop breakthrough solar cell technology, undoubtedly will generate significant revenue for Solterra, Quantum Materials Corporation and its shareholders.” www.solterrasolarcells.com
We are very close now IMHO the award was based on the microreactor technology which is critical to our scale up of solar cells.
http://www.flowid.nl/projects/index.html
Just for fun a little demonstration of the power of concentrated solar.
Hey DDhawk, I also wondering what went down on the QMC board? I'm a little nervous about FG being the new mod. He has moments doesn't he.
Ahh.. I don't know what happened there I thought DDhawk was our new mod? Anyways no matter whoever takes up the reigns good luck and thanks for voluntering..
Cheers
Lol, looking forward to it PV! We will have to arrange a Ihub QMC shareholders meeting someday soon.
GLTA
Purvida, I would like to thank you for all your tireless work and dedication to this board. In addition welcome back DDhawk, I've been monitoring your science spin off board since its creation and have appreciated the info posted. Crunch55, great article. The solar industry (among others) is in for a rude awakening when QMC announces there first solar farm and our panel specs become public knowledge. Thanks to all IMO we will be rewarded soon!
Researchers have announced that they have developed a new kind of semiconductor component magnetic quantum dots. Quantum dots are microscopic crystals which have the capacity to potentially double the storage capacity of hard disks. The crystals themselves aren’t new; they’ve been around for over a decade in computer chips, solar cells, and LEDs, according to CBC News. This particular application, though, is unprecedented.
Semiconductors act as a switch, altering or moving the movement of electrons in a circuit. Quantum dots have the ability to also allow electrons to give off photons on command.
The new work, reported today in the journal Nature Materials, describes a class of quantum dots that not only control electrons, but also have good magnetic properties allowing them to read the electron’s spin.
The research team claims it’s the first successful synthesis of magnetic quantum dots above room temperature.
The researchers were also able to demonstrate electric field control using the quantum dots at temperatures up to 100 Kelvin, or –173 C.
Prof. Jin Zou, chair in nanoscience at the University of Queensland’s Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis, said that by detecting electron spin, scientists can find new uses for quantum dots.
“Quantum dots with magnetic properties have multiple uses both optical and magnetic,” said Zou.
Zou said the key was getting just the right concentration of manganese mixed in with the germanium matrix of the quantum dot.
“Manganese has characteristics that in combination with other semiconductor atoms, allows magnetic properties to be achieved,” he said.
“But the amount must be small — just five per cent — so as not to lose the qualities you’re after,” said Zou.
2 years of research to reach goal
It has taken the team, which included researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, and computer chip maker Intel, two years of research to achieve their goal.
Zou said the research could lead to advances in computer technology.
“The new technology could lead to faster and larger storage hard drives that use less power, as well as new ways of communications,” he said.
“It could also open up new frontiers like spintronics, a very hot topic internationally,” said Zou.
Spintronics, also called magnetoelectronics, is a relatively new technology that relies on a quantum property of electrons, called spin, that is closely related to magnetism. While electronics exploits only the charge of electrons, spintronics can use both their charge and spin.
Thanks for your post PV19 it was a great read!
Originally Posted: http://thetechjournal.com/tech-news/researchers-develop-quantum-dots-that-could-double-storage-capacity.xhtml#ixzz15n4dPyZ6
First Solar Must Keep Up FONT SIZE
November 17, 2010 | about: ASOE.OB / FSLR
By: Greentech Media
by Eric Wesoff
First the news...
Apollo Solar Energy (ASOE.OB), a vertically integrated miner, refiner and producer of high purity tellurium ((Te)), announced a five-year purchase contract between Apollo Solar Energy and a major worldwide solar panel manufacturer. According to an 8-K filing, that panel manufacturer is First Solar (FSLR).
According to the contract, Apollo will provide 5N ultra-high purity tellurium, the core material of cadmium telluride ((CdTe)) thin-film solar photovoltaic panels, with a projected value of $110 million over five years. We've looked at issues surrounding First Solar's tellurium supply here.
First Solar's panels are being used at the 16-megawatt Blue Wing installation in Texas. Mr. Kanellos reported on the firm's capacity expansion to 2.7 gigawatts here. We covered the company's deal with SolarCity and Wal-Mart (WMT) here and its third quarter earnings here.
And now on to the rumors:
First Solar needs to keep the momentum in its relentless march to higher efficiencies and lower costs. That could mean new materials and new processes. Here are some ways we've heard that it is working on it:
In one of Silicon Valley's poorest kept solar secrets, First Solar has established a CIGS skunk works. We've learned that the head count of that operation is in the range of 80 people and that the firm is starting to solidify its CIGS process. Markus Beck left his role as Chief Scientist at CIGS aspirant, Solyndra, to join First Solar in January of last year, as reported by Michael Kanellos. If the firm could arrive at a high-efficiency CIGS process that would drop into its existing copy-smart lines -- the First Solar CdTe efficiency levels might get a jump start from their current 11.3 percent. The rate of improvement in efficiency levels seems to be slowing down significantly.
We've heard from a number of sources that the firm will be bumping up its glass substrate size and testing that form factor at U.S. manufacturing sites in 2011.
And lastly -- and note that this has not been confirmed by First Solar -- we've heard from reliable sources that in its effort to improve the somewhat stalled efficiency trajectory of its CdTe panels, First Solar has gone so far as to experiment with the addition of mercury ((Hg)) in its PV panels. CdTe can be alloyed with Hg to vary the bandgap of the compound. First Solar declined to comment.
Mmm mercury!
And I thought solar was green energy?
We are due today aren't we?? PV19 did you get any response from Squires regarding the state of the 10Q / 10K filing. Thanks
I'm not expecting anything earth shattering tomorrow. Lack of a PR pre-10Q 10K signals to me contracts and or scale up of production are still being finalized. GLTA
AIMHO
BSullivan, After the research I have done (and I hope you have too) saying that this could be a scam is ridiculous. Look at the people involved, do you really think people like Dr Jabbour and Dr Glass would ever stake their reputations on a scam. These are high respected scientists. Yes there is always a possibility that this could fail, but not because it was meant to from the outset. Squires and Chancis have their own personal money involved and I'm sure they could think of other things to spend it on! Look forward to the near future news!
AIMHO
P19 sorry but once in awhile I like to throw a softball out there and watch you hit it out of the park. Guess you can call me a fan. Thanks
GLTA
There are others out there working on reel to reel qdots I hope to see some evidence that we are producing before we become yesterdays news. It's time to give up the stealth strategy and show our cards.
Voxtel’s Innovation Powers a Next-Generation Solar Cell
First-ever practical demonstration of advanced solar collection technique published in Science
September 30 — BEAVERTON, Ore. — Voxtel has demonstrated solar cell devices with the first measured signals from signal amplification due to multiple exciton generation (MEG) in quantum dot structures. This is the first practical verification of the MEG approach for improving the efficiency of solar cells, a ‘third-generation’ solar energy technique. The approach offers the potential for highly efficient, inexpensive photovoltaics that could be printed directly onto surfaces. This groundbreaking finding was
published in the prestigious journal Science by a partnership between researchers at Voxtel Inc. and the University of Wyoming. Voxtel is headquartered in Beaverton, Oregon, and Voxtel’s photovoltaic research team is based in Eugene, Oregon.
Voxtel’s approach promises to overcome the Shockley–Queisser limit, the well-known performance ceiling of about 34% efficiency for conventional ‘first-generation’ silicon cells. To overcome this limit, Voxtel developed an approach using quantum dots — semiconductor materials about one-billionth of a meter in diameter. The response of these custom-made materials can be tuned to match the sun’s light — including the infrared portion of the spectrum that silicon cells can not harness.
The engineered use of such quantum dots offers a maximum of about 66% efficiency, but in Voxtel’s MEG approach, the fundamental efficiency limit is raised to approximately 75%. For most photovoltaic technologies, a photon of solar energy can produce only one excited electron in the solar cell, but the MEG design allows multiple excited electrons to be produced and collected when a single photon is absorbed. This effectively multiplies the electrical current that can be produced from the absorption of energy from the sun. Although previous experiments showed that MEG was possible, today’s Science report demonstrated the process in an actual photovoltaic device, using Voxtel’s quantum dots to double the collection of electrons from high-energy photons.
Says George Williams, Voxtel’s president and founder, “Harnessing solar energy using MEG has profound implications for the next generation of solar cells. Today, a typical domestic rooftop installation can power at most a dozen light bulbs, but the potential efficiency of quantum dot solar cells would make solar power a much more practical alternative to fossil fuels.”
The quantum dot approach also has significant benefits in terms of cost. Says Mr. Williams, “Quantum dot solar cells can be fabricated directly from chemicals, and the quantum dot inks can be directly deposited on flexible substrates using roll-to-roll printing techniques, including ink jet printing. This is a major departure from conventional silicon solar cell manufacturing, which relies on costly infrastructure and intensive processing, and also generates a considerable amount of waste.” Both efficiency and cost are crucial in the pursuit of practical photovoltaic systems; for example, a solar cell that is only 15% efficient would have to be supplied at no cost in order to be financially practical when installed.
Regarding the Science report of the first demonstration of MEG in a working device, Mr. Williams says, “in the laboratory, we and others have see evidence of two, three, and more excitons using laboratory equipment, and this data has shown that, in order to extract the extra signal generated in the quantum dots, we needed to extract the carriers from the quantum dot in less than one picosecond — one millionth of one millionth of a second — or else they would recombine with each other. Voxtel used chemical coatings on the quantum dots to induce an electric dipole, which allowed us to capture the amplified signal before the carriers were annihilated.”
This result is a major step in a years-long effort to advance the technology to where it can be manufactured in commercial devices. “This is an extraordinary achievement, but there is also a lot of work remaining to realize the full benefits of quantum dot solar cells. The maximum efficiency of quantum dot cells has been about 7% so far, and despite the potential benefits of MEG, it will be several years before quantum dot solar cells exceed the efficiency of silicon, and several more years more before we realize the cost benefits of printed solar cells.”
Initial press coverage of this development has been brisk:
Upping the Limit on Solar Cell Efficiency — MIT Technology Review
…Two major hurdles remain before the trick can be used to make ultraefficient solar cells. Parkinson used lead-sulfide quantum dots with a crystalline titanium-dioxide electrode. Researchers need to try other combinations of quantum dots and electrode materials to find ones that can convert more photons into multiple electrons. Parkinson says his new methods for making quantum dot solar cells will help them directly test these other combinations. Researchers also need to increase the total amount of light that the quantum dot solar cells can absorb…
Solar cells get two electrons for the price of one, efficiency bonus — Ars Technica
…The technology demonstrated in this paper is particularly interesting for several reasons. First, it is a true “nanomaterial” application where the size of the semiconductor particles enable truly unique properties by confining the excitons to quantum length scales. During my daily abstract scan, it is all too common to find “nano-” papers that simply involve small particles rather than truly novel properties enabled by the scale of the materials.
The work also concentrated on extracting electrons from the nanoparticles rather than just trying to break efficiency records for electron generation…Finally, the experimental setup for this study is largely consistent with dye sensitized solar cells, which are easy to manufacture compared to silicon technologies…
New technology that captures “exciton” particles could replace today’s solar cells — IO9.com
…This offers a chance for solar cells to trap excitons in a similar way. As long as the cells are coupled with the appropriate electrodes, they too can capture these quasiparticles before they degrade, which means they would save most of the heat and hang onto it as useful energy. It would greatly improve the efficiency of solar cells, all without even having to do anything to the basic photon capture technology.
Work light twice as hard to make cheap solar cells — New Scientist
…Now Bruce Parkinson and Justin Sambur at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, and Thomas Novet of Voxtel in Beaverton, Oregon, have taken the first steps along another route to super-efficient solar cells. Their approach involves harnessing particularly energetic photons – those with more than twice the energy needed to free an electron – and using them to free two electrons rather than one, potentially doubling the current generated…
I'm not sure what that filing means to us but here is a wiki definition of what the form is commonly used for.
13D filings allow the investing public to see who a public company's large shareholders are and, perhaps more importantly, why they have an interest in the company. These filings may be a precursor to hostile takeovers, company breakups, and other "change of control" events.
Schedule 13D is an SEC filing that must be submitted to the US Securities and Exchange Commission within 10 days, by anyone who acquires beneficial ownership of 5% or more of any class of publicly-traded securities in a public company. A filer must promptly update its Schedule 13D filing to reflect any material change in the facts disclosed, including, among other things, the acquisition or disposition of 1% of the securities that are the subject of the filing.
I completely agree, there has been minimal PR in the last 6 months. So paying a IR firm seems pointless. I have spoken to management and am more than pleased with all responses! Looking forward to the near future announcements.
GLTA
Lauren Milner - Investor Relations is no longer representing Solterra/Quantum. I wonder what has transpired to bring this about. I will send through a email to Squires to see who is now handling IR.
GLTA
PROPOSAL 2
APPROVAL TO INCREASE THE AUTHORIZED CAPITAL STOCK OF THE COMPANY
To approve an increase of the Company’s authorized capital stock to 350,000,000 from 185,000,000, of which 340,000,000 will be deemed common shares and the remaining 10,000,000 will be deemed eligible to be divisible into classes, series and types as designated by the Board of Directors.
This increase is being requested in order to allow the Company the ability, if deemed appropriate, to issue shares in connection with equity financings, among other things.
Recommendation of the Board of Directors
The Board recommends a vote FOR the change of the Company’s capital stock to 350,000,000 from 185,000,000.
Location: Parc Floral de Paris, France
Part of: EOS Annual Meeting 2010
Duration: 27 October 2010
For the second time, EOS will dedicate a special session to the “Grand Challenges of Photonics" focusing on the fantastic capabilities of photonics and the science of light. Photonics is true enabling technology that each one of us uses on a daily basis. For example, it brings us information over the internet, it provides new ways for energy production and lighting, it is used for treatments of diseases and it can create the warmest and the coldest place in the universe.
Grand Challenges of Photonics will give you the opportunity to hear from world-class speakers about technologies which are revolutionary, uncommon and not realizable to date, but can pave the way for a bright future in optics and photonics.
Grand Challenges of Photonics is held in the spirit of Albert Einstein saying: “If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?”
Chairs
Fredrik Laurell, KTH - Royal Institute of Technology, SE
Paul Urbach, Delft University of Technology, NL
Speakers
Luis Banares, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, ES: "Light in femtoseconds: the making of molecular movies with ultrashort lasers"
Ghassan Jabbour, University of Oulu, FI: " Inkjet Printing in Device and Materials Discovery"
Ulf Leonhardt, University of St Andrews, Scotland, UK: "Transformation optics: from invisibility to artificial black holes"
Albert Polman, FOM Institute AMOLF, NL: "Light trapping in thin-film solar cells"
GLTA
I have to agree with BSullivan in some respects, I too am deeply disappointed and bordering on concern. I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt til Jabbours speech in Japan but no company press release or signs of addressing the 10K...
Hoping for better times here..
GLTA
PV19, I was wondering if you could decipher where we truly are after listening to Jabbours speech? I took it in at midnight last night and need to check it out again.. I do recall multiple times where Jabbour couldn't elaborate due to the fact that it was a public speaking engagement. In particular the scaling up of efficiencies to past 6%. Thanks
I am hoping we will see some form of company update now that Jabbour has spoken at the Nature Photonics Conference. A press release that deals with the 10K filing should also be addressed immediatly, any thoughts as to why Squires wouldn't provide a detailed explanation for the OTCBB issues and how they are trying to come to a resolution??
GLTA
I'm slighlty confused here, Squires seems to indicate we are delisted and a relist can take up to 30 days. Crunch55 shows trading still occuring as of today?? Has anyone had this experiance before?
Thanks
GLTA
Can a Disruptive PV Technology Topple First Solar?
We list a few candidates for a “new black swan improbable pyro-nano-quantum-thingamajig technology” to displace thin-film PV.
.
As we watch First Solar lower their industry-leading costs from $0.81 per watt in Q1 to $0.76 per watt in Q2, we get a clearer picture of their cost trajectory. First Solar's roadmap sees their costs dropping another 20 percent to 30 percent by 2014. They also envision their efficiencies climbing to 14 percent from today's 11.1 percent. Is this the best that the solar industry can do?
The leading (and bankable) Chinese crystalline silicon manufacturers will continue to price their product exactly where it needs to be to win commercial and utility business. And folks like SunPower, with their high efficiencies and high costs, will attempt to keep up. Other public companies without the benefit of very high efficiency, very low costs, or big balance sheets are going to be on the losing end of Shyam's Solar Shakeout (TM).
So, why aren't there solar panels everywhere?
What if utility electricity prices were really high? Installing solar panels would be a no-brainer and everybody would do it. There would be solar panels on every roof.
Well, not really.
It's not a perfect example -- but Kauai has ample sun and expensive electricity prices. It's a situation where one could declare "grid parity" -- and yet Kauai is not seeing a rush on installing solar power. Why? Because the up-front price is too high. At, say, $6.50 per watt installed, a 4-kilowatt system is still a $26,000 investment and, absent a financing or leasing tool, it's just not going to be found on the rooftops of regular folk. Subsidies help, but don't change the game.
***
But what if a technology firm were to emerge and turn those cost numbers on their collective ears? What if a new technology drove costs down to fifty cents per watt -- or even twenty cents per watt? That could translate to a reduction in the retail installed price of one to two dollars. Factor in some reductions in balance-of-system and installation cost and we would start to see installed solar costs at the residential level looking more like buying an expensive refrigerator instead of a new car.
Here are some technologies that might lead to that kind of profound market disruption:
•High efficiency III-V
•Intermediate band
•Quantum dots
•Thermophotovoltaics and Thermovoltaics
•Organics
•Plasmonics
•Nanotubes and Nanowires
•Photonic Crystals
High Efficiency III-V Materials
The best compound semiconductor triple-junction solar cells from incumbents Emcore and Spectrolabs and startups Solar Junction and Cyrium max out in the neighborhood of 40 percent efficiency. They are also very expensive and are one of the pinch points for the low-cost volume deployment of Concentrating Photovoltaics (CPV).
Startup Alta Devices is working on a thin-film compound semiconductor material with high efficiencies and low costs. This patent identifies the use of GaAs, AlGaAs, InGaP and alloys thereof in the Alta Devices tool kit. The firm appears to be using an epitaxial lift-off technique pioneered by Eli Yablonovich which has yielded 26.1 percent thin-film GaAs solar cells in this research by Bauhuis, et al.
Thermovoltaics and Thermophotovoltaics
In most cases, the heat accumulated by rooftop solar panels is viewed as a nuisance rather than an ally. What if that heat could be converted to energy in tandem with the photonic energy harvest?
Stanford researchers are working on ways to combine "quantum and thermal mechanisms into a single physical process" to generate electricity and make solar power production twice as efficient as existing technologies. It's called PETE -- photon-enhanced thermionic emission. This process does require some exotic materials (cesium-coated gallium nitride) and works best at high temperatures -- more likely with concentrators or parabolic dishes than flat solar panels.
Nanostructures, Nanotubes and Nanowires
Bandgap Engineering has developed tunable methods for nano-structuring silicon. Unlike bulk silicon, nano-silicon's optical properties can be tuned to reduce reflection and increase absorption, critical characteristics for any solar cell.
The firm claims that the absorption of nano-silicon is enhanced by up to several orders of magnitude over bare silicon over a wide range of wavelengths. This enables nano-silicon to absorb the light in the first four microns versus the top 50 to 100 microns that bulk silicon needs to absorb most of the light. This could impact cell efficiency and direct manufacturing cost -- and make for much thinner wafers.
Bandgap claims that solar photovoltaic cells based on nano-silicon have less reflection than bulk silicon or a traditional PV cell. Specifically, while bulk silicon reflects over 30 percent of light across the spectrum (at normal incidence) and PV manufacturers are able to reduce this to 5 to 8 percent with anti-reflective (AR) coatings and surface texturing, nano-silicon can reflect less than one percent of incoming light.
Researchers at The Netherlands' University of Eindhoven are aiming for nanowire-enabled solar cells with 65 percent efficiency. The research is being conducted at Philips MiPlaza with funding from the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs. The researchers believe that nanowires, in combination with concentrators, have the potential for the world’s most efficient solar cells, with a cost lower than 50 cents per watt.
Nanowires allow a number of subcells (junctions) to be stacked, with each subcell converting one wavelength-band of sunlight to electricity. Researchers have commented that a protective shell around the nanowires can boost efficiency and that stacking five to ten junctions will yield efficiencies of 65 percent.
(See also: Scitech Solar.)
Intermediate Band
RoseStreet Labs Energy (RSLE) is developing an intermediate band nitride thin film semiconductor material. It's an alternative to the multijunction designs for improving power conversion efficiency of solar cells. From the RoseStreet website: "Theoretical calculations (performed at 46,000x concentration) indicate that with the proper location of a narrow band of gap states a single junction cell can achieve an ideal power conversion efficiency of 63.2 percent, much larger than the 55-percent ultimate limit for two-junction tandem cells."
The intermediate band solar cell developed by RSLE, is a thin-film technology based on highly mismatched alloys. The three-bandgap, one-junction device has the potential of improved solar light absorption and higher power output than III-V triple-junction compound semiconductor devices.
Also working on intermediate band technology is SiOnyx.
Plasmonics
Physicists, I throw myself on your mercy. Plasmonic technology uses engineered metal structures to guide light at distances less than the scale of the wavelength of light in free space. Plasmonics can improve absorption in photovoltaics and broaden the range of usable absorber materials to include more earth-abundant, non-toxic substances, as well as to reduce the amount of material necessary.
Lightwave Power, funded by the Quercus Trust is working on plasmon-enabled solar.
Photonic Crystals
Photonic crystals are nanostructured materials in which repeated variations in the refractive index on the length scale of visible light produces a photonic band gap. This gap affects how photons travel through the material and is akin to the way in which a periodic potential in semiconductors influences electron flow. In the case of photonic crystals, light of certain wavelength ranges passes through the photonic band gap while other wavelength ranges are reflected. The photonic crystal layer could be attached to the back of a solar cell.
Lightwave Power, funded by the Quercus Trust, is working on photonic crystal-enabled solar.
Quantum Dots
Solar cell efficiency could theoretically be raised to more than 60 percent using quantum dots -- electrons can be transferred from photo-excited crystals to an adjacent electronic conductor. Researchers have demonstrated the effects in quantum dots made of PbSe, but the technique could work for quantum dots made from other materials.
***
As always, there is an enormous temporal and financial chasm between the demonstration of these enticing phenomena in the lab and building this technology at gigawatt scale and at competitive prices. But, with enough innovators and entrepreneurs working on this in the coming decade -- things could get really interesting.
***
The "new black swan improbable pyro-nano-quantum-thingamajig technology" term is borrowed from Vinod Khosla's recent thin-film solar piece in Greentech Media.
PV, thanks for the morning laugh. It brought back a childhood memory as I recall spending weeks building a model rocket installing the largest engine I could find, launching and never finding it again as far as I know it is orbiting the moon right now... I hope to compare QTMM to that rocket in the near future.
GLTA
PSB, looks to me like you want this to be your personal griping board, we all would like to see some PR, OF COURSE! Don't you think that hasn't occured to the posters on this board. How can you complain when Squires timeline for sales haven't even come and gone. I thought the purpose of this board was to inform, research and discuss our findings. Quit stating the obvious and try contributing something usefull instead of constantly bitching!
GLTA
Ah thought so, sorry bout that!
Not sure if this is new or not....
Jabbour comments half way through
A New Materials Printer Deposits Functional Fluids
The Fujifilm Dimatix DMP-3000 materials deposition printer offers users a larger format, higher accuracy and higher repeatability.
By Jack Kenny
A large format fluid deposition system was unveiled recently at the Large-area, Organic & Printed Electronics Convention (LOPE-C) in Germany that takes inkjet deposition a step further in the printed electronics field. Fujifilm Dimatix, a supplier of industrial inkjet printheads, components and systems, introduced its new Dimatix Materials Printer, the DMP-3000, at the Large-area, Organic & Printed Electronics Convention (LOPE-C) held recently in Frankfurt, Germany. The DMP-3000 is a non-contact deposition system capable of jetting a wide range of functional fluids using multiple fluid deposition printheads interchangeably.
The new DMP-3000 joins the Fujifilm Dimatix DMP-2800 printer, which was introduced in 2005. The company reports that more than 400 systems have been sold worldwide. The DMP-2831 is a bench-top system designed for micro-precision jetting of a variety of functional fluids onto many different surfaces. It can build and define patterns over an area of 200 x 300 mm and substrates up to 25 mm thick. It employs single-use printhead cartridges that researchers can fill with their own fluid materials.
Expanding upon the DMP-2800, the new DMP-3000 features a larger printable area of 300 x 300 mm, and maintains a positional accuracy of ±5 µm and repeatability of ±1 µm. The DMP-3000 uses a temperature controlled vacuum platen to register, maintain and thermally manage substrates during printing. The company has tested its new equipment on a wide variety of substrates, and reports that it performs on plastic, glass, ceramics, and silicon, as well as on flexible substrates from membranes, gels and thin films to paper products.
Noting that the DMP printers are primarily for R&D, Jan Sumerel, manager of biomedical sciences for Fujifilm Dimatix, says that the major difference between functional fluid printing and graphic printing is the requirement for different types of printheads. “We have printheads that are made from silicon. Silicon is resistant to a larger number of chemistries required for functional printing.
“Materials like carbon nanotubes, gold or silver nanotubes, or DNA, are very expensive, but if you have the capability to deposit very small amounts, then you can print a functional film without wasting the material.”
Earlier methods of thin film deposition utilized vapor deposition, which Sumerel said could involve “harsh processing conditions.” Fujifilm then produced an R&D printer called the 2831, which featured a printhead with 16 nozzles, a volume of about 1.5 milliliters and a fairly low cost of about $49,500 in the United States..
“You can test your processes with that, but the printhead with 16 nozzles is not adequate for manufacturing protocols due to limited throughput.
“The new machine’s stage accuracy is ±5 µm. It’s a much bigger instrument, secured with granite, which aids in stabilization. The other huge advantage is that not only does it take the small R&D print heads, but it also takes print heads with 128 nozzles. All of a sudden you can go from a small printhead appropriate for fluid formulation and move to an industrial manufacturing size printhead. It leads to setting up the process for production.”
Sumerel adds that the print heads are evolving to smaller drop volumes. The standard for industrial inkjet printheads is 80 picoliters, though some are capable of reaching 30 picoliters. “Our printheads have 10 and 8 picoliter drop volumes. That’s another big step in the right direction.”
The printer includes an integrated drop visualization system that captures droplet formation images dynamically, as droplet ejection parameters are adjusted to produce a tuned printhead and fluid combination. Also, the electronics allow the printhead to be calibrated on a per nozzle basis to compensate for any variability. A second camera system allows for substrate measurements and alignment, observations of fluid drying behavior, and droplet measurement and placement calculations.
“When you’re printing functional fluids you are spending a lot of time at a microscope watching droplet formation,” Sumerel says. “We have software that lets you examine the droplet stability, formation and appearance. These can be looked at and adjusted before printing. That’s what makes this machine an R&D machine, the ability to alter all of those parameters.”
The printer has been tested in the field and has earned positive reviews, particularly among academics. “The DMP-3000 printer from delivers a high-precision inkjet printing system that is ideally suited to meet the needs of printed electronics research and development activities,” says Vivek Subramanian, associate professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at the University of California, Berkeley. “By combining high accuracy motion control with the well established quality, reliability, and scalability of Dimatix printheads in a compact, self-contained and easy to use unit, the DMP-3000 meets the needs of researchers in the area of printed electronics and related fields, and helps usher in the era of ubiquitous printed electronics.”
“The DMP-3000 fills the gap between experimental research and production equipment by having many printhead options, from a single nozzle ultra-small drop to high performance 128 channel printheads with drop volumes up to 35 picoliters with the required accuracy,” says Ulrich Schubert, director of the Institute for Organic Chemistry and Macromolecular Chemistry at the Friedrich-Schiller-University in Jena, Germany. “Thus, the rapid transfer of new inks and printing processes from the academic level to new applications can be performed, leading to a significant increase in the use of inkjet for printing of functional materials.”
A third endorsement comes from Ghassan Jabbour, director of research, optoelectronic materials and devices at the Flexible Display Center at Arizona State University. “The new DMP-3000 provides an increased printable area and higher stepping accuracy and repeatability. Also, having the flexibility to interchange printheads of varying drop sizes as needed is an important and unique advancement in this area.”
Multiple Fujifilm Dimatix printhead models, including the 1 and 10 picoliter DMP cartridge-based printheads and the SX3 and SE3 hybrid printhead models, are used interchangeably with the DMP-3000 printer.
The Dimatix Materials Cartridge is a snap-in replaceable printhead used with both DMP models and is available in 1 pL and 10 pL drop volumes. Based on Fujifilm Dimatix’ proprietary silicon MEMS technology, the 16-jet Dimatix Materials Cartridge is designed for high-resolution, non-contact jetting of functional fluids in a broad range of applications. The 1 pL cartridge can deposit features as small as 20 µm (20 millionths of a meter) to fabricate products such as organic thin-film transistors and printed circuits.
The SX3 Printhead is a highly compact, high performance hybrid jetting assembly designed specifically for micro-fluid deposition. The SE3 Printhead, similar to the SX3, is a compact, high performance hybrid jetting assembly designed for precise drop placement of a slightly larger drop.
Because cartridge printheads and high performance printheads can be used interchangeably within the same unit, scale-up from development to production can readily occur. This means that initial research, sample and process developments are translatable from the laboratory and can be used to specify prototype printing system design and development.
Sumerel says that the DMP-3000 was the focus of great enthusiasm at LOPE-C. “Everybody was super excited,” she says. “And the size is just right. Pricing for the DMP-3000 has not been established yet, she adds, but it probably will be in the $175,000 area.
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Solterra facebook Japan? Looks like Jenny May is here.
http://ja-jp.facebook.com/pages/Quantum-Materials-Corp-Solterra-Renewable-Technologies-Inc/134382586591146
Lee, that's interesting! Around that time I spoke to management and was told there was impending news coming within the next 7-10 days. For some reason it was put on hold? I think we're close now recently Dr Bob mentioned we would be very happy come Christmas.
GLTA
Talk about copy and paste! Everytime you post bsullivan that's what it seems like your comments are then you wait for PV19 to convince you to stay onboard. This is a penny stock which is a big gamble, I would love to see some news but in truth I am happy to see they haven't pumped the stock with fluff PR. Building this company as Stephen has envisioned takes planning and time to bring success. This is not your typical penny stock company look at the resumes of the people involved. Investing is research and faith. Squires has me on both counts.
GLTA
Can anyone decipher if this is applicable to Solterra
Enhancement of device performance of organic solar cells by an interfacial perylene derivative layer
AbstractFull Text HTMLHi-Res PDF[2241 KB]PDF w/ Links[272 KB]
Inho Kim†, Hanna M. Haverinen‡, Jian Li† and Ghassan E. Jabbour*†§
School of Mechanical, Aerospace, Chemical and Materials Engineering and Advanced Photovoltaics Center, Arizona State University, 7700 South River Parkway, Tempe, Arizona 85284, and University of Oulu, P.O. Box 4500, 90014 Oulun Yliopisto, Finland
ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 2010, 2 (5), pp 1390–1394
DOI: 10.1021/am100039m
Publication Date (Web): April 21, 2010
Copyright © 2010 American Chemical Society
* Corresponding author. E-mail: : jabbour@asu.edu or Ghassan.jabbour@kaust.edu.sa. Current address: Solar and Alternative Energy Engineering Research Center, Physical Science and Engineering, KAUST, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia., † School of Mechanical, Aerospace, Chemical and Materials Engineering, Arizona State University., ‡ University of Oulu., § Advanced Photovoltaics Center, Arizona State University.
Abstract
We report that device performance of organic solar cells consisting of zinc phthalocyanine and fullerene (C60) can be enhanced by insertion of a perylene derivative interfacial layer between fullerene and bathocuproine (BCP) exciton blocking layer (EBL). The morphology of the BCP is influenced by the underlying N,N'-dihexyl-perylene-3,4,9,10-bis(dicarboximide) (PTCDI-C6), which promotes migration of the cathode metal into the BCP layer. Insertion of a PTCDI-C6 layer between fullerene and BCP layers enhances the power conversion efficiency to 2.5%, an improvement of 32% over devices without PTCDI-C6 layer. The enhancement in device performance by insertion of PTCDI-C6 is attributed to a reduction in series resistance due to promoted metal migration into BCP and optimized optical interference effects in multilayered devices.
Second part with Jabbour commenting
Remarkable diversification in terms of energy sources and the intensification of deploying renewable energy options are evident around the world. Such endeavors are, on the whole, fueled by a range of environmental, energy security and/or economic considerations.
Indeed, it is no exaggeration to suggest that the world is progressively undergoing transition from a hydrocarbon-based economy to one based on sustainable forms of energy. It is notable, however, that there has been comparatively limited interest in examining the prospect of renewable energy in major oil-producing countries, especially in those characterized by heavily oil-dependent economies.
Consequently, there has been a corresponding dearth of research. These countries need to consider such sustainable energy means to further secure their energy and economic futures. The key role that these countries could play in achieving a healthier future for generations to come should not be overlooked.
Saudi Arabia, a major oil producer, with at least a quarter of the world's proven oil reserves, is also an increasingly urbanized and industrialized nation that is blessed with abundant solar energy and a reasonable wind resource.
Developing technologies that contribute to sustainable economic development is at the heart of collaborative research work in progress at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Thuwal, north of Jeddah. KAUST is one such marvel that will serve as a growing symbol of a country exploring new horizons and reinventing itself for the future.
KAUST sprang from an idea Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah had to establish a world-class university. In King Abdullah's words: "It will support industries and the private sector and help set up new knowledge-based industries. It will also help in converting innovative ideas and inventions into economic projects benefiting the country and citizens."
Saudi Arabia hopes to approve a regulatory framework for investment in renewable energy in 2011, according to a Reuters report published recently.
The framework should set out the conditions of government funding and incentives for the sector, said Adullah Al-Shehri, governor of the Saudi Electricity and Co-generation Authority (ECRA). Without them, the renewables sector would not progress in the Kingdom, he said.
"We developed the policy and we were ready as regulators to submit to our board for approval and then take it to the council of ministers," Al-Shehri said.
ECRA is regulator of the water and desalination sector.
"If they (the government) don't provide the funds nothing will move forward, this is our proposal...to get the government committed and (its) support," he said.
The government also needed to clarify which body would be regulating renewables contracts going forward, he said. "Anybody who wants to invest (renewables) in Saudi Arabia will find it difficult to know who to talk to," Al-Shehri said.
The Kingdom announced in April it would set up a scientific center called King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy. The center would be in charge of promoting research and sealing future deals.
The future role of ECRA will be to issue project licenses, he said.
Al-Shehri said peak power demand in Saudi reached 41,000 megawatts in 2009 while power generation capacity is 46,000 MW.
The Solar Energy Coordination and Communication Workshop, held at KAUST recently, has resulted in a committee being formed to focus on the acceptance and use of the renewable energy source.
Khaled Al-Sulaiman, vice-president for Renewable Energy at the King Abdullah City of Atomic and Renewable Energy (KACARE), told the gathering about recent mandates received from the government declaring that nuclear and renewables would be among the energy options adopted by the Kingdom.
"KACARE has been given responsibility to guide renewable energy efforts," he said. "We are charged with technology development and investigating nuclear and renewable energy resources. We can do it -- I mean all of us, all stakeholders in Saudi Arabia, in cooperation with others globally. There will be no turf fighting or the marking of territories."
Amin Al-Shibani, KAUST's vice-president of economic development, said: "The introduction of a new industry, any industry in any nation, is faced with a lot of obstacles and challenges. With determination and leadership the key stakeholders will overcome these obstacles."
Professor Ghassan Jabbour, director of KAUST's Solar and Alternative Energy Engineering Research Center, said his center's mission was to make solar energy low-cost and therefore commercially viable. "Our main wealth is knowledge," he added. "We must encourage the process or we won't move an inch forward. Our center is investing in the human mind."
Unfortunately, not everyone was equally supportive of transitioning to a renewable energy economy. In a speech to the Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA) annual conference in Houston, Texas, last year, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ali Al-Naimi warned that promoting the rapid growth of renewable energy without continuing to invest in oil would create a "nightmare scenario." "We must be mindful that efforts to rapidly promote alternatives could have a 'chilling effect' on investment in the oil sector," he said. "A nightmare scenario would be created if alternative energy supplies fail to meet overly optimistic expectations, while traditional energy suppliers scale back investment."