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Alternatives to nuclear energy under focus
By SARAH ABDULLAH
ARAB NEWS
Jun 7, 2010
As a solution to the overwhelming call to meet the growing demand for electricity and energy to fuel water desalinization projects, Saudi Arabia is moving closer to relying on nuclear energy to meet these vital requirements.
Despite the Kingdom’s $80 billion investment to expand its electric generation capacity and construction of several electrical power plants, Saudi Arabia still needs more reliable energy sources to supply electricity to a growing population.
In 2009, power demand grew by more than 8 percent, increasing annually by at least 7% with an additional 60,000 megawatts expected to be needed by 2020. Previous plans for harnessing the extra energy was simple, namely to merely increase the use of crude oil to generate the extra power.
However, the Kingdom has come under tough scrutiny due to environmental issues and the pollution being caused globally by fossil fuels. The American Energy Information Administration (EIA) has predicted that the only way to mitigate global warming is if the world energy consumption of fossil fuels drastically is reduced over the next 10-15 years. They also found that the use of nuclear power is only effective in reducing the causes of global warming by only 10 percent
Nonetheless, despite the recent media reports announcing the Kingdom’s progress toward nuclear energy, the decision to utilize it isn’t exactly a greenfield idea. Saudi scholars have carried out feasibility studies examining the most suitable locations in the Kingdom for construction of nuclear power stations since the early eighties. The results have found repeatedly that the most suitable places to construct such stations in Saudi Arabia, would be firstly Jeddah area and secondly the coast of Dhahran.
As a means of continuing research and gaining of further technological know-how in preparation for the building of such power plants, Nuclear Energy Research Center’s have been established in King Abdul Aziz University (KAAU) in Jeddah and in the new King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), 80 km north of Jeddah.
Arab News contacted several experts in the nuclear research center of the Engineering Department at KAAU, but received no solid information. Only that the research being done currently is,” highly sensitive and needs further study and planning before any decisions can be made or information released.”
In April, however, there were announcements that the Kingdom is planning to open the King Abdullah City for Nuclear Energy and Renewable Energy in Riyadh. Former Minister of Commerce and Industry, Hashim Yamani, is expected to head of the new research city. “This is a massive step toward securing additional sources of energy and preserving oil for many decades. Turning to renewable energy will safeguard energy supplies for the ever-growing population and its increasing demand for desalinated seawater and electricity,” said Khaled Al-Sultan, rector of King Fahd University Petroleum and Minerals.
Al-Sultan also said that Saudi Arabia has a scientific and research talent for advancement in renewable energy at a time of “unprecedented and intense competition for alternative, diverse, sustainable, and reliable sources of energy to generate electricity and reduce the dependence on oil and gas.”
The objective for the new city is to fund university research labs and assist in private sector rollout of nuclear applications for agriculture, health care, water desalination and power generation industries.
Internationally the use of nuclear energy gained popularity in the 1990s with currently 439 nuclear power plants in operation worldwide and another 28 others under construction. The reason for the popularity despite, the drawbacks is that electricity generation from nuclear energy is considered to be economical and very cost effective compared to generation from renewable energy sources worldwide such as sun, water, wind, or geothermal energy. However, one must also ask at what cost?
Official studies from the German government has shown that the risk of getting cancer significantly increased in children growing up in the neighborhood of a nuclear power station, particularly leukemia. Other disadvantages have to do with nuclear waste. The EIA has shown that a typical nuclear reactor produces 20-30 tons or waste per year that can’t be disposed of with Plutonium 239 remaining dangerous for as much as 10,000 years and radioactive for 240,000 years. Most countries reuse nuclear waste to create energy but this just creates more waste while others utilize the waste through their national defense departments.
Even though, there are major drawbacks some success stories do exist. The European countries of France and Luthuania get three quarters of their energy from nuclear means and countries such as Belgium, Bulgaria, Slovakia, South Korea, and Switzerland get one third of their power by having incorporated nuclear as an alternative to their energy policies. Nonetheless no one can deny that Saudi Arabia does have other alternatives that many Asian and European countries can not consider — the pollution- free power of the sun which would make the need for nuclear energy and the headaches that go with it completely avoidable.
According to Christian Comes, Solar Sales Division, SANYO Component Europe GmbH, Saudi Arabia is missing out on a great opportunity to not only use solar energy as a primary energy source but to profit worldwide from the renewable energy, as well.
“Saudi Arabia has enough sun and space to produce solar electricity to sell. However, due to the previously thought high investment, it has been ignored,” he said, adding that currently this factor is beginning to change. The fact is Saudi Arabia can generate enough power form the sun to take care of its and others’ energy needs. Some of Europe’s biggest corporations such as ABB of Switzerland, Munich Re, Deutsche Bank and Siemens, as well as others have launched a $570 billion solar development program or Desertec, with initial installations to be in Egypt, and North Africa followed by Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
Another power project headed by France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy, the Mediterranean Solar Plan, will produce 20GW of power by 2020. These plans are based on the idea that the Middle East and Saudi Arabia can export solar power to Europe. The power is expected to be transported via 20 cables lying beneath the Mediterranean Sea at a cost of $1 billion each.
Last year, Minister of Petroleum, Ali Al-Naimi, said: “Saudi Arabia aspires to export as much solar energy in the future as it exports oil now.”
Speaking to Arab News regarding the realistic possibilities of using solar energy, a representative of Siemens, said: “We expect that the market for solar thermal power plants is growing in many regions of the world. Key regional markets for solar thermal power are within the Sun Belt. There is currently significant demand in Spain, we are anticipating high growth rates in the US, north Africa, and the Middle East. Solar power will be profitable first of all in North Africa and the Middle East.”
With wind and solar and power being disregarded in the past due to their high costs, Siemens says that the costs are falling and expected to decrease further in the future. “The question of cost efficiency depends on various factors, including geographical conditions. For example, the cost for one megawatt of wind power onshore has dropped from 3 million euros to one million euros during the last 20 years with this development not having ended yet. We are currently working on the wind power business and expect the same effects for solar power, too,” he said.
From the Saudi Power and Water conference
5: RENEWABLE ENERGY OPPORTUNITIES & SOLUTIONS IN SAUDI ARABIA
• Managing change and the move towards a long-term strategy beyond oil
• In what ways can Saudi Arabia benefit from renewable energies?
• Latest on the regulatory framework for investment in renewable energy
• How do you make renewables competitive? What are the incentives? How can a tariff mechanism for renewables be deployed?
• What is the outlook for solar in the Kingdom’s sustainable energy mix? Does Saudi Arabia have the potential to be a solar energy hub?
• Customising solar technologies for the Saudi environment. What is the outlook for grid-connected PV? Opportunities in solar desalination
Keynote Presentation:
Dr Khalid Al Sulaiman, Vice President for Renewable Energy, King Abdullah City for Atomic & Renewable Energy (KA-CARE)
Moderator: Ahmad Al-Khowaiter, Director of New Business Evaluation Development, Saudi Aramco
Panel:
Dr Ghassan Jabbour, Head of Solar Development, King Abdullah University of Science & Technology (KAUST)
Roger M Othman, Facilities Planning Department, Saudi Aramco
Hani Zahran, Manager of the National Earthquake & Volcano Centre, Saudi Geological Survey (SGS)
Salman Al-Jishi, Vice Chairman of the Industrial Committee, Council of Saudi Chambers of Chamber of Commerce & Industry
Vahid Fotuhi, Director, BP Solar Middle East
GLTA
Questions & Answers
Highly Efficient Solar Cells Could Result from Quantum Dot Research
June 17, 2010
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AUSTIN, Texas — Conventional solar cell efficiency could be increased from the current limit of 30 percent to more than 60 percent, suggests new research on semiconductor nanocrystals, or quantum dots, led by chemist Xiaoyang Zhu at The University of Texas at Austin.
Zhu and his colleagues report their results in this week's Science.
Dr. Xiaoyang Zhu, professor of chemistry, has discovered a method to capture the higher energy sunlight that is lost as heat in conventional solar cells.
Photo: Marsha MillerThe scientists have discovered a method to capture the higher energy sunlight that is lost as heat in conventional solar cells.
The maximum efficiency of the silicon solar cell in use today is about 31 percent. That's because much of the energy from sunlight hitting a solar cell is too high to be turned into usable electricity. That energy, in the form of so-called "hot electrons," is lost as heat.
If the higher energy sunlight, or more specifically the hot electrons, could be captured, solar-to-electric power conversion efficiency could be increased theoretically to as high as 66 percent.
"There are a few steps needed to create what I call this 'ultimate solar cell,'" says Zhu, professor of chemistry and director of the Center for Materials Chemistry. "First, the cooling rate of hot electrons needs to be slowed down. Second, we need to be able to grab those hot electrons and use them quickly before they lose all of their energy."
Zhu says that semiconductor nanocrystals, or quantum dots, are promising for these purposes.
As for the first problem, a number of research groups have suggested that cooling of hot electrons can be slowed down in semiconductor nanocrystals. In a 2008 paper in Science, a research group from the University of Chicago showed this to be true unambiguously for colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals.
Zhu's team has now figured out the next critical step: how to take those electrons out.
They discovered that hot electrons can be transferred from photo-excited lead selenide nanocrystals to an electron conductor made of widely used titanium dioxide.
"If we take the hot electrons out, we can do work with them," says Zhu. "The demonstration of this hot electron transfer establishes that a highly efficient hot carrier solar cell is not just a theoretical concept, but an experimental possibility."
The researchers used quantum dots made of lead selenide, but Zhu says that their methods will work for quantum dots made of other materials, too.
He cautions that this is just one scientific step, and that more science and a lot of engineering need to be done before the world sees a 66 percent efficient solar cell.
In particular, there's a third piece of the science puzzle that Zhu is working on: connecting to an electrical conducting wire.
"If we take out electrons from the solar cell that are this fast, or hot, we also lose energy in the wire as heat," says Zhu. "Our next goal is to adjust the chemistry at the interface to the conducting wire so that we can minimize this additional energy loss. We want to capture most of the energy of sunlight. That's the ultimate solar cell.
"Fossil fuels come at a great environmental cost," says Zhu. "There is no reason that we cannot be using solar energy 100 percent within 50 years."
Funding for this research was provided by the U.S. Department of Energy. Coauthors include William Tisdale, Brooke Timp, David Norris and Eray Aydil from the University of Minnesota, and Kenrick Williams from The University of Texas at Austin.
For more information, contact: Lee Clippard, College of Natural Sciences, 512-232-0675; Dr. Xiaoyang Zhu, professor of chemistry, 512-471-9914.
15 Comments to "Highly Efficient Solar Cells Could Result from Quantum Dot Research"
1. rezzouk said on June 21, 2010
"There is no reason that we cannot be using solar energy 100 percent within 50 years."
It is a great dream, but I think it is possible, so we must work more. Thanks to you, and it sounds like a good job. Can you send me more information about that?
2. joe harris said on June 22, 2010
I had been thinking that we are not utilizing infrared wavelengths and had asked chemist son-in-law who said it can't be done. I hope DOE increases funding.
3. George Edwards said on June 24, 2010
This is so exciting. The relative high cost of current silicone cells to the cost of fossil electricity makes the switch to solar expensive without substantial subsidies from the government. With a higher efficiency cells, and hopefully, a relatively even or reduced cost of production, we truly can advance into the solar era. One way or another we will finally have to go there, whether we choose to or are forced to is the dilemma but the sooner, the better.
4. Charles Curtis said on June 24, 2010
As one who has benefited from the petrolem industry and all of its traditional downstream industries, I applaud Dr. Zhu and his associates. This is the type of research that needs to be done. Define a practical goal and set about solving the problems that stand in the way.
5. Cary Michael Cox said on June 24, 2010
Great work. I'll be happy with any source of energy in which we can tell the Middle East to go play in their sandbox.
News like yours always brings out my University of Texas at Austin pride. All the best with your continued research.
6. Sarah Northington Fox said on June 24, 2010
Are there demonstration fields in operation to observe the solar set-up? In Texas?
7. William Rhea said on June 24, 2010
Has spectrolab been involved with this process? They are a major leader in high efficiency triple junction solar cells. Very interesting work! Has this gone from theory to practical application yet (i.e. a higher efficiency cell)? From what I am reading it appears the heat loss has moved from the cell to the conducting wire junction at this point. If this can increase the efficiency up to 51 percent on a cost efficient cell and transfer wire this would be a MASSIVE discovery worth billions. Keep at it. This is awesome stuff. Thanks, solardog
8. William Rhea said on June 24, 2010
Question: Evolution Solar (symbol EVSO on the pink sheets OTC) stock climbed 91 percent at the close when they broke your news earlier today. That's about $4.6 million USD added to their market cap in a day! Wow. Are they affiliated with your program/college in any way?
9. ArmandoObledo@UTSA said on June 24, 2010
Awesome development in solar research! From the sound of the 66 percent theoretical limit, Zhu must be looking into "Auger generation." Hot electrons are a conventional PV cells enemy since they greatly contribute to cell degradation and are usually not harvested, but if you can use hot electrons in narrow bandgap QDs like PbSe in a superlattice type architecture, then they donate kinetic energy to other adjacent QDs and cause an "avalanche" effect energetically speaking. Is there research being done on cell architecture that leads to Auger generation within a PbSe QD superlattice?
10. John Coltrane said on June 25, 2010
But what about the hot "holes" left behind after the electron transfer to TiO2? Won't they simply oxidize the PbSe lattice, destroying the QDs? This is a major problem with all polar semiconductors like PbSe, CdSe etc. Not as much a problem with covalent semiconductors like SI, so you'd need to demonstrate this with Si to have any real impact on PVs. Also TiO2 is a widegap semiconductor and will likely absorb a lot of the near UV sunlight instead of the PbSe and it will still be wasted as heat.
Solar thermal is just much more practical then PV devices, except in space.
11. Logan Cravens said on June 25, 2010
As an architect I am interested if this technology could be used integrally with a panel used to clad a building.
Also interested in the toxicity of the materials used and their eventual potential to be recovered and reused.
12. Claudio said on June 30, 2010
Could you share the paper with me? Could be good news for the solar industry.
13. Vik said on June 30, 2010
@Cary, "Great work. I'll be happy with any source of energy in which we can tell the Middle East to go play in their sandbox."
Nobody in the Middle East is asking you to play with their sandbox. You yourself have built an economy and society that require more resources than available in your country. Hence you need to import oil. The long-term solution to America's energy problems remains conservation. There is no guarantee of technology providing all the answers.
And, bear in mind, the sun shines much brighter in these "sandbox" countries. They are best placed to make use of solar technology.
14. VIjay Ramasamy said on August 3, 2010
Great news for solar cell technology and downstream industries. Being in the TiO2 industry, I am interested to know more about the type of TiO2 used and its theory. Keep up the good work!
15. ashwani said on August 27, 2010
It's very good news, but I think in the total energy of the sun we have 60 percent IR radiations. How you use them is a major factor to increase the efficiency of solar cells.
That's all I was suggesting by my post that I was hoping to see some revenues in the near future I don't need you jumping down my throat ripster I've been in for over a year with a pretty health investment I know what this company has and I'm in for the long haul if that's what it takes.
GLTA
So much for the hope that we have some revenue streams... Sigh..
Printed Electronics USA 2010
Nov 30 - Dec 2
Worlds largest event on printed and flexible electronics.
Dr Ghasssan Jabbour presenting for Solterra
I know this is old news but I thought I would include the PDF link to the conferance.
http://media2.idtechex.com/pdfs/en/T3776V3075.pdf
I'd love to attend and hear this man speak!
IMHO we are on our way soon..
P19 did I mention how much I enjoy your posts? Thanks for all your hard work!
10k due Sept 30th if I remember correctly, I hope to see some sales of q-dots they have 2 salesmen recently hired in addition to Dr Bob and Squires
Unfortunately after reading Dr Bob's last email reply I think we will be waiting a month or two until any significant news.
There is lots of activity by the team. We spent several weeks in europe and the mid east, Japan and south america . So far, everything moves slower that we like (or could have predicted), so it probably will be a bit longer before major announcements are made. (I thought some would have happened by now, but in this particular world economy everything is at a snails pace- it could be another month or two). I know everyone wonders why the stock sits at 9 cents, but that should change before the end of the year. If you invest in QTMM you must realize that we are a startup taking novel nanotechnology from a laboratory and translating it into commercial processes . Such technology conversion is always difficult and takes longer than one expects. Usually, in the long run, patience pays off.
Part of a article exploring future computing and storage.
Organic films
The University of Arizona's Optical Data Storage Center has provided US$2 million in funding for the molecular memory work. Dror Sarid, director of the center, and optical scientist Ghassan E. Jabbour are pioneering theory and experiments that are leading the way to very fast, low-cost and compact memory devices.
Sarid and Jabbour believe that nanotech organic films will be the data storage medium of the near future, using millions of microelectronic arms (also known as MEMS probes) to read and write data in clusters of molecules on the film.
The scientists are developing an idea that originated with IBM and Stanford University researchers. It combines silicon-based microelectronics with micromachining technology. Sarid and Jabbour have demonstrated their version of a MEMS probe that employs a cantilever to deliver pulses of electric current as the tip of the probe "taps" on a surface. The cantilever's injected current changes the electric resistance at the point where it contacts the surface and writes data.
"In principle, one should have no trouble in making a million cantilevers operate in parallel in the MEMS probe," Sarid says. "After all, Pentium processors in computers have millions of transistors, and this is much simpler than a transistor. And Jabbour has the expertise to fabricate nano-thick organic thin films for low-cost memory."
Molding the Future of Plastic Electronic Production
NIST researchers Dan Fischer (left) and Dean DeLongchamp
E-readers that can be bent and folded, “smart” bandages that signal when they need changing based on oxygen levels, and biodegradable radio frequency identification tags that help companies track and manage stock – these are all real possibilities in the field of organic electronics, which uses carbon-based materials that are intrinsically semiconductors. Recently, using Brookhaven’s National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS), a group of researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Arizona State University, and the University of Oulu, Finland, analyzed one promising organic semiconducting material in an effort to bring these technologies, and many more, to the marketplace.
As opposed to conventional electronics, which feature inorganic metal conductors such as silicon or copper, organic electronics – also known as plastic electronics – can be manufactured using technology as common as an ink jet printer.
This makes possible the production of lightweight, flexible, and robust electronics at low cost. Plastic electronics don’t replace silicon technologies, and they aren’t likely to fuel the mainstream electronic industry’s overall drive to produce ever smaller and ever faster devices. Instead, organic electronics offer the possibility of brand new, complementary markets. That is, if industries are able to create reliable products easily.
“With organic materials, reproducibility and reliability are hard to achieve because the ink dries differently almost every time,” said NIST researcher Dean DeLongchamp. “You never know exactly what you’re going to get.”
In this study, the researchers analyzed the structure of dried films made from a particular organic semiconductor often used in photovoltaic cells, PTCBI. Classified as an “n-type” semiconductor, PTCBI is one of the rare commercially available organic-electronic materials that actually transport electrons. The other kind of organic semiconductors, known as p-type, transmit positive charges – called “holes” because the moving areas of positive charge are places where an electron is missing. In order to work, a complementary organic circuit needs both p- and n-type semiconductors.
The researchers used powerful x-ray techniques at NSLS beamline U7A to determine the orientation and order of PTCBI as it was formed on different surfaces. Their results, which were published in the August 3, 2009, edition of Advanced Functional Materials, are surprising.
Illustrations of PTCBI films with two different orientations. Researchers found that those laying down (left) exhibit slower transport than those that stand up (right).
“We found that the contact face of PTCBI depends on what type of surface it was deposited upon, which is very unusual,” DeLongchamp said. “Typically, we find that an organic semiconductor’s crystals change size with the dielectric substrate it is deposited on. But here, the crystals are actually oriented differently on different dielectrics.”
The researchers then linked the orientation of the PTCBI crystals to performance: In general, substrates that allow the crystal’s individual molecules to stand up straight — and therefore have a large amount of electronic overlap — exhibit the fastest transport. But substrates that force the molecules to lie down flat exhibit poorer performance.
“These fundamental relationships provide practical rules for the synthesis and processing of organic electronics,” DeLongchamp said. “The many potential opportunities for performance enhancement indicate a promising future ahead for organic electronics.”
Funding was provided by the Army Research Laboratory, the Finland Distinguished Professor Program, and the Graduate School of Modern Optics and Photonics at the University of Joensuu.
Other authors include Parul Dhagat and Ghassan Jabbour, from the Arizona State University; Hanna Haverinen, from the University of Oulu, Finland; and R. Joseph Kline, Youngsuk Jung, and Daniel Fischer, all from NIST.
The possible applications for quantum dots boggles the mind!
GLTA
Graphene-based Solar Cells May Seek Scarce Venture Funding.Friday, 23 April 2010 12:11 Phoenix Green Business Examiner .0Numerous universities across the U.S. are investigating ways to improve the efficiency and light capture abilities of solar cells.
A new category of solar technology was established in the last decade denoted as third generation solar cells, which applies to the family of materials including nanostructures such as: three-dimensional pillars, wires, quantum dots (Solterra in Tempe, AZ), and glitter-like crystals. First and second generation solar cells deal with more well-developed materials such as crystalline and amorphous silicon, respectively, and have been implemented into commercial applications, whereas nanostructures are still in the R&D phase in labs and start-up company facilities.
A team of chemists at Indiana University Bloomington has incorporated large sheets of carbon to enhance light collection in advanced solar cells. This new design includes a three-dimensional bramble patch on each side of the carbon sheet. Using this method, the group was able to dissolve sheets containing as many as 168 carbon atoms, which is considered a major accomplishment in the field.
The main interest is derived from the drive to find a naturally abundant material that can efficiently absorb sunlight. Carbon meets this requirement and is inexpensive, while the graphene form of this material, which is essentially one atom thick, is capable of absorbing a wide range of light frequencies compared to semiconductors, which typically need to be layered together for this purpose. Graphene shows promise as an effective, relatively inexpensive, and less toxic alternative to other materials currently used in solar cells. Other 3rd generation solar cells are utilizing silicon nanowires for improving light capture efficiency, as silicon is readily available in nature but typically more costly than this form of carbon.
There are some complications in utilizing graphene in this application. Large graphene sheets are attracted to each other and tend to glom onto each other; thus, this materials integration issue needed to be addressed. The Indiana University research group evaluated a solution that attached a semi-rigid, semi-flexible, three-dimensional hexagonal carbon ring and three long, barbed tails made of carbon and hydrogen to the sides of the graphene, which kept sheets as large as 168 carbon atoms from adhering to one another. Using this method, they could make the graphene sheets from smaller molecules so that they are uniform in size. What’s more, there is additional interest in replacing silicon substrates in the microchip industry with graphene due to its superior charge transport properties. More details on the graphene-based solar cell research will appear in a future issue of Nano Letters.
In terms of taking university innovation to commercialization, funding has improved slightly over the course of the year; however, only 32 venture funds in the U.S. supported new entrepreneurial endeavors in 2010 thus far, according to a report by Thomson Reuters and the National Venture Capital Association. The first three months of this year marked the slowest opening quarter of activity since 1993. Furthermore, the $3.6 billion raised for new funds was down 31 per cent from the same time last year, and the 32 active funds indicated a 44 per cent decline in the total number of firms in this space.
Part of the slowdown in funding start-ups in the clean energy sector has been the lack of formerly anticipated comprehensive energy reform on Capitol Hill, even though the fossil fuel industry has faced several recent tragedies in deadly coal mine explosions and off-shore oil platform fires. Phoenix, Arizona is home to several alternative energy start-up companies seeking venture capital funding as well.
For more info: In order to anonymously receive FREE email alerts on future green technology and business articles, please subscribe on my homepage and/or follow me on Twitter. If one is interested in a consultation on this or another green business topic, please click on the "Request a Consultation with this Author" link located toward the bottom of this GLG network site.
Lol, alot of steam being blown off today. I think everyone needed to let loose a little, I remember as a kid things getting tense around Dec 25th, looking at all those presents and wanting to rip open the package and see whats inside. The news from Dr. Bob that we will be possibly be waiting a month or 2 longer has got us longs all riled up!
GLTA
What is this world changing stock you founded.. Company name... Financials?
Ya Barrmore was that you that had 200 employees working for you (squires).or did you work for Apple or SunMicro and write the future of the Internet before it happened ( Dr.Bob )Are you one of the top scientists in your field ( Wong,Jabbour ).Sorry Barrymore there is a reason why Squires is not opening the door to you.You forget this isn't just some start up company it is a world changer for a whole new industry of products.That is why Dr.Bob stated they are following a plan, their plan not yours.Who wants fluff for press releases... I know you are a big pump and dump guy so work on your gold stock ...This is not P & D...It is hold and prosper.
Wait until the world gets a look at us!!
Quantum dots for sale PDF version of this article
Artificial atoms illluminate biotechnology and other fields
by Jennifer Ouellette
Nearly 20 years after their discovery, semiconductor quantum dots are emerging as a bona fide industry with a few start-up companies poised to introduce products this year. Initially targeted at biotechnology applications, such as biological reagents and cellular imaging, quantum dots are being eyed by producers for eventual use in light-emitting diodes (LEDs), lasers, and telecommunication devices such as optical amplifiers and waveguides. The strong commercial interest has renewed fundamental research and directed it to achieving better control of quantum dot self-assembly in hopes of one day using these unique materials for quantum computing (Figure 1, right).
Semiconductor quantum dots combine many of the properties of atoms, such as discrete energy spectra, with the capability of being easily embedded in solid-state systems. “Everywhere you see semiconductors used today, you could use semiconducting quantum dots,” says Clint Ballinger, chief executive officer of Evident Technologies, a small start-up company based in Troy, New York.
Figure 1. Two quantum dots connected by a wire behave somewhat like atoms in a molecule, with different energy levels, a property that might be useful as a switch in a quantum computer.
( Arizona State University)
Sometimes called artificial atoms, quantum dots fall into the category of nanocrystals, which include quantum rods and nanowires. They are technically defined as small semiconductor crystals containing a variable number of electrons that occupy well-defined, discrete quantum states. However, “the only real requirement for something being classified as a quantum dot is that the object is small enough,” says physicist John Venables of Arizona State University, a pioneer in growing crystals on surfaces. Because of their tiny size, quantum dots behave according to the rules of quantum physics, which describe the behavior of atoms and smaller particles, rather than those of classical physics, which describe the behavior of objects consisting of many atoms.
Quantum dots form when a thin semiconductor film buckles under the stress created when its lattice structure differs slightly in size from that of the material on which it is grown, explains Jerry Floro, a researcher at Sandia National Laboratories (Albuquerque, NM). Pressures generated by deposing new layers force the flat film to separate into dots. These dots pop up into the third dimension to relieve the stress rather than continuing to grow against resistance in two dimensions. This extra dimension, combined with the dots’ minute size, gives them electrical and nonlinear optical properties different from those of the original thin film—most notably, the emission of light. Quantum dots can also be produced by colloidal synthesis, commonly called “wet chemistry.”
The two manufacturing methods have different applications, says Venables. For example, currently it is only possible to connect electronics to epitaxially grown quantum dots. So this method is used predominantly for areas such as telecommunications, logic circuits, and quantum-computing work. But many biological and optics applications, such as LEDs and tunable lasers, do not require such connections. Therefore, quantum dots formed by colloidal synthesis dominate these sectors, particularly because that process is easier to scale up.
Scaling up the colloidal manufacture of quantum dots—which until recently have only been produced in microgram quantities—is critical to their further commercialization, says Steven Talbot, Evident’s vice president of marketing. The company currently produces several grams a week, but it needs to develop improved processes to reach kilogram quantities. “There is a difference between what you need to do to make the manufacturing process suitable for commercialization and what you can do in the lab for scientific purposes,” notes Brian Korgel, an assistant professor of chemical engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. “You need longterm stability and shelf-life, and a lot of these materials are still fragile. So there are issues of chemical robustness. Also, some applications require self-assembly, and we need to do that reproducibly.”
Biotechnology
Scale-up issues are one reason that quantum dots found their first commercial applications in biotechnology. “Making quantum dots on scales required for use in devices for photonics or telecommunications would require hundreds of kilograms of material, and existing manufacturing processes cannot do that yet,” explains Charles Hotz, director of chemistry for Quantum Dot Corp. (QDC) in Hayward, California. “Biotechnology requires comparatively trace amounts of materials, although they need to be very high quality.”
Figure 2. In the cells at left, the microtubules were stained with 605-nm fluorescent quantum-dot conjugate, and the nuclei were counterstained with Hoechst dye (blue). In the cell at right, the nucleus and microtubules were labeled with red and green quantum-dot conjugates, respectively.
(Xingyong Wu, Quantum Dot Corporation)
Current biosensors use fluorescence-based dyes, but these dyes emit light across a broad spectral width—which limits their effectiveness to a small number of colors—and they also degrade over time under the microscope. Quantum dots can be fine-tuned to emit at different wavelengths simply by altering the size of the dot. Thus, dots can be used to label and measure several biological molecules simultaneously. And because quantum dots are crystals instead of organic molecules, they remain almost completely stable under the microscope. QDC launched its first nanobiotech product in December 2002: semiconductor quantum dots attached to a biomolecule (streptavidin) for use in cell and tissue analysis. The company plans to market three or four more products within the next few months, each with an affinity for a different molecule, such as immunoglobulin C (Figure 2, above).
Another application uses quantum dots as inorganic fluorescent probes to shed light on cellular processes, such as the forming or breaking of chemical bonds, which, until now, researchers have viewed only briefly and dimly with the aid of organic dyes. In collaboration with Genentech, Inc. (South San Francisco, CA), QDC is developing products to fill this niche. QDC recently announced that it had successfully labeled breast cancer cells with quantum dots, which can also be used to color-code other kinds of cancer cells. QDC hopes to extend the emission range of quantum dots into the near-infrared.
Figure 3. Fluorescent reagents (EviBead Fluors) detect 10-µM biotinylated oligonucleotide spots on an aminosilane slide, using false color (white, saturated; red, bright; blue, dull; black, no fluorescence).
QDC and Evident Technologies both manufacture quantum dots from cadmium selenide, cadmium sulfide, cadmium telluride, lead selenide, lead sulfide, and lead telluride, as well as from hybrid structures that give the dots additional useful properties. Evident plans to release its initial product line later this year for use as biological reagents for immunoassays and DNA and antibody tests. It also intends to target other markets in biotechnology as well as cosmetics and solar cells. And the Department of Defense has expressed interest in using quantum dots for portable biowarfare detection devices. “We are trying to fit our products into existing markets so that we do not have to reeducate our client base or build an entire market sector from scratch,” says Talbot of Evident’s strategy (Figure 3, left).
Although Korgel’s start-up company, Innova Light, has no product on the market yet, he says that he and some University of Texas colleagues are using siliconbased quantum dots to make selective electrical contacts to neurons. “The idea is that you optically pump a nanocrystal to create an electrical field in the particle, which interacts with the electrical field of a nerve cell, and then combine it with microelectronics technology,” says Korgel. Attaching quantum dots directly to receptors on cell surfaces eliminates the need for external electrodes and enables the precise counting and mapping of neurons. One day, this molecular-recognition approach may allow the attaching of specific dots to specific neurons to remotely control neural functions—such as muscle movement in people with certain neurological diseases —by activating selected neurons. Korgel is also investigating making composites of living cells and quantum dots, in which the dots are activated by light to trigger, for example, a drug-delivery application.
LEDs, tunable lasers
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Los Alamos National Laboratory have demonstrated that semiconducting quantum dots can provide the necessary efficient emission of laser light for the development of novel optical and optoelectronic devices such as tunable lasers, optical amplifiers, and LEDs. Quantum dots perform well across a wide temperature range and can be tuned to emit at different wavelengths. It is already possible to make LEDs from quantum dots that are precisely tuned to blue or green wavelengths, says physicist Howard Lee of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). Quantum-dot LEDs could be used to emit white backlight in laptop computers or as internal lighting for buildings. They might also be key to important technological advances in full-color flat-panel displays, ultrahighdensity optical memories and data storage, and chemical and biological sensing.
Realizing that potential requires gaining better control over the creation of quantum dots. Floro’s team at Sandia developed novel probes in 1999 that uncovered a repulsion effect between dots that may hold the secret to controlling their formation. The researchers made realtime measurements of atoms clustering to form large three-dimensional dots, called islands, and observed how mutual repulsion caused the dots to change shape and self-assemble as they grew.
Floro and his collaborators also developed another tool to examine dots. They made measurements that treat dots as the originators of light-interference patterns. Because the intensity and direction of light vary depending on the size, shape, and spacing of the quantum-dot islands, they could observe what happened to the islands as temperature, material composition, and stress changed. “This showed us what controls dot evolution and how process conditions such as temperature and strain enhance or suppress dots,” says Floro. He uses silicon-germanium in his experiments—although it is not a good laser emitter— because it is a simpler material from which to derive the applicable physics. “We next need to find how much of what we have learned will apply to real laser materials such as gallium arsenide,” he says. “If we can understand the fundamental physics, we can ultimately make better quantum dots.”
Telecommunications
The availability of tunable semiconductor quantum-dot lasers opens possible applications in the telecommunications industry, especially because dots are also promising materials for making ultrafast all-optical switches and logic gates. “The properties of semiconductor quantum dots offer great potential for optical amplifiers at telecommunication wavelengths,” says Frank Wise, a researcher at Cornell University. “The synthesis of quantum dots in glass hosts, for example, is naturally compatible with opticalfiber technology, and polymer hosts might even be acceptable to the industry in the future.” Among other advantages, photonic chips based on quantum-dot lasers would be less expensive and more efficient than current telecommunication lasers, and one could either fit more lasers on the same chip sizes as today or create smaller chips. Researchers at LLNL have demonstrated quantum-dot switches and logic gates that operate faster than 15 terabits/s. The Ethernet, by comparison, can handle only about 10 megabits/s.
Wise’s group is collaborating with scientists at Corning, Inc. (Corning, NY), to develop rudimentary devices from IV–VI quantum-dot materials such as lead sulfide and lead selenide, which have stronger effects of quantum confinement. Their energy gaps also fall naturally into the nearinfrared range of 3- to 4-µm wavelengths. When the structure is quantum-confined, the result is materials with optical transitions at 1- and 2-µm wavelengths, the target range for most telecommunication applications. As a first step toward an amplifying-device structure compatible with optical fiber, Corning scientists have made a waveguide that contains lead sulfide quantum dots.
However, commercial telecommunication applications are unlikely to emerge in the next few years because of the industry’s investment in entrenched technologies, such as indium phosphide lasers and erbium-doped amplifiers. “We are not realistically going to make something to supplant erbium-doped amplifiers tomorrow,” says Wise. “Many issues must be resolved before quantum-dotbased devices can compete with the existing technology.” More significantly, the industry has struggled in recent years in an increasingly adverse economic climate. “I do not think the issue is the technology but more the general issues confronting the telecommunications market today,” says Talbot. “The industry just isn’t investing in new lasers, switches, or optical routers, and that has driven down demand for new kinds of technology.”
Quantum computing
Unlike conventional computation, quantum-dot-based quantum computers would rely on the manipulation of electron spin to carry information and perform computations. In 2001, Albert Chang, a professor of physics at Purdue University, and his colleagues linked two quantum dots in such a way that they could control how many electrons were in each dot and then detect the electrons’ spins—critical information for quantum computing. The researchers achieved this by creating extremely fine circuits with electron-beam lithography. They coated gallium arsenide with a plastic and then etched fine lines into the plastic, which they filled with a metal. The plastic was dissolved, which left behind metal lines about 50 nm wide. Chang’s group is now working both to detect the spins on each dot and to precisely control them.
Last year, Floro’s group at Sandia and Robert Hull’s group at the University of Virginia serendipitously discovered how to form a unique fourfold quantum-dot molecule —four dots bound together elastically by a hollow core that holds the structure together like glue. This finding has garnered considerable interest from the quantumcomputing field as an ideal structure for building quantum-cellular automation. “For example, you would put electrons in two of the dots to represent one logic state, and then force the electrons to switch into the opposite two dots to represent a different logic state—essentially the 1s and 0s used in today’s computers,” says Floro. “We certainly have not demonstrated working quantum-cellular automata, but it is a useful prototype structure, formed entirely by self-assembly and manipulation of the growth kinetics.” Despite these advances, “I doubt you will see quantum computers within five years,” says Floro. “We are still learning about the relevant quantum physics; being able to adequately control the physics to self-assemble true computer circuitry is some time off.”
Ideally, researchers would like to sufficiently control growth to self-assemble a computing element along with the near-field wiring required to attach it to working devices on nanometer size and length scales. That will require a combination of manipulating the thermodynamics and growth kinetics—more control than researchers can achieve now—and cutting-edge lithography techniques. The working concept is to etch with today’s lithographic capabilities and then use the resulting pattern to hierarchically direct subsequent self-assembly at a smaller scale. “By placing structures lithographically on the substrate, and then using the features we have created at one length scale, we can shrink down to the next length scale through self-assembly onto a template structure,” explains Floro. “Achieving that would be a major breakthrough.”
Exactly where quantum dots will find their biggest commercial breakthrough remains to be seen, but the initial biotech applications will surely pave the way for others. And for those engaged in their sale and manufacture, there is no denying their market potential. “I think we are on the verge of a commercial breakthrough similar to what polymers did to the plastics industry,” says Talbot. “This material has so many different uses that it could be a fundamental new material system for a whole host of products that touch on almost all major areas of modern life.”
Lol Crunch that would be impressive but it looks to me like they are only on pages 729-731. Maybe it's good to know they can sum it up in 2 pages! Makes it easier for investors like me to understand!
GLTA
By the way PV19 Bravo on your "Barrymore said:" post very enjoyable reading... Have a good night all, looking forward to a interesting next few weeks.
The Deserts will save the world.
http://www.pv-magazine.com/opinion/blogdetails/beitrag/the-deserts-will-save-the-world_100000993/
Article contemplating a 1 GW solar farm
Lee how did you arrive at the 100kg per day of QD to support a 1GW solar farm??
I don't know if this release has been posted in full from FutureChemistry.
http://www.futurechemistry.com/files/PRESS%20RELEASE%20Solterra%20Implements%20High%20Volume%20QDMfg%20Plan.pdf
I know it's slightly old but I hadn't read the complete document before.
Thanks for the update on the linkedin site! Next week is gonna be big IMHO!
DMc, can u post that link I'm having trouble finding it.
Thanks
Free great find. I would love to be at that Venture forum! Hope it will be a launch party. Barrymore, I agree the time is ripe for some news.
AIMO
First Solar employs 4500 people I wonder what we'll need when we get to full production?? I'm suggesting our overhead will be a fraction of a company like FSLR.
Looking forward to forthcoming news!
GLTA
Interesting video on quantum dots augmenting LED lighting.
First Solar, Inc. is a publicly held U.S. energy company in the solar sector. It manufactures photovoltaic solar modules using a thin film semiconductor process based on CdTe, to produce photovoltaic modules. It is the largest manufacturer of thin-film cells in the world[4] and world's first largest manufacturer of photovoltaic (PV) cells[5] with 1.1 GW of production in 2009.[6]
Revenue - 2 Billion
1 GW production
Employees - 4500
Market cap 11.5 Billion
Share value - $135
Quantum Material Corp/Solterra
1GW solar production
Revenue??
Employees - 10
Share Value ??
Both located in Tempe Arizona?? Maybe FSLR will come knocking on our door!
Where this stock will go to ?? It boggles the mind!!! AIMO
Great post Crunch!! I can't wait to see where this stock is going to climb to. Official news right around the corner.. GLTA
Sounds good P19! Looking forward to the days ahead.
Ramadan ends on Thursday Sept 9th, everyone will be back to work and into the swing of things. Hope to hear some big anouncements then!
GLTA
Qtmman I don't mean any disrespect but personally I'm glad you're moving on. Of your 27 posts there wasn't one positive or informative in the bunch. Kinda gets me worked up when I see all the excellent research that board members have contributed and qtmman walks away with "the writings on the wall for this stock" what writing is that exactly maybe you would care to share? And no I'm not against honest tough questions!
GLTA
Any thoughts as to where we are in the large picture with Squires comments to D5?
An interesting article on Solar now and where it's going. There is a nice mention of Solterra and what they are going to offer as a alternative to Silcon based PV.
http://www.wikinvest.com/industry/Solar_Power
not sure of the date of this info (solterra mentioned at the end of article)
GLTA
Nice find crunch! I'm in for the long haul here too and hope they can pull it off. They have the product and the demand, it's all in the delivery.
GLTA
Lol Ex, do you ever get that feeling u have toilet paper stuck to your shoe?
Flowid in Paris
Flowid exhibits at Continuous Flow Reactor symposium Paris
Flowid will attend at the Continuous Flow Reactor Technology for Industrial Applications symposium that will be held on the 3rd and 4th of October 2010 in Paris France. We are looking forward meeting you at our booth.
Glta
Lol, Ex so u must be freegrass's alter-ego! Sadly I don't have my own personal inventor maybe once this hits $100 !!
Glta
I would like to reiterate P19s comments regarding company responses. Chancis and Squires replied and were very helpful with a issue I raised, they were anything but stealth. Barrymore should have no problem making contact if his intent is legitimate. In addition I would urge and caution all members to please refrain from sending Steve or Richard useless questions as to when they might see news or items of that nature, my intent is only to add to P19's comments that the people running this company were very helpful and profesional to deal with.
GLTA
Barrymore, if you managed to put together finacing of that magnitude and brought qtmm to $100+ i'm sure I speak for all of us, we would celebrate St. Barrymore day and perhaps buy u a Barrymoremobile(solar powered of course)
glta
Nice to see all the positive response to the Green Giant statement, I'm thinking we are further ahead than I had hoped as far as product and contracts. IMHO news is coming any day now. GLTA