You know what we love? Solar-powered gadgets, and
carbon nanotubes. Oh, and Ivy League schools. Boffins from Cornell University are now looking to use the multifaceted carbon nanotube instead of silicon to develop efficient solar cells, and judging by the
glacial pace at which solar cell efficiency is
improving, we'd say the sector could use the boost. The researchers have already fabricated, tested and measured a simple solar cell (called a photodiode, just so you know) that was formed from an individual carbon nanotube. The tube was essentially a rolled-up sheet of
graphene, and while the inner workings would take days to explain, the gist of it is this:
"The nanotube may be a nearly ideal photovoltaic cell because it allowed electrons to create more electrons by utilizing the spare energy from the light."
So, solar-powered F-350 trucks are now a possibility for next year, right?
[Via
Graphene-Info]
Filed under: Science
Cornell gurus look to carbon nanotubes for efficient solar cells originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Sep 2009 22:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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carbon nanotube, CarbonNanotube, cornell, cornell university, CornellUniversity, Eco-Friendly, efficiency, graphene, nanotube, photodiode, Research, Science, Solar, Solar Power, SolarPower, university
Terrifying news, kids: we're growing
seriously close to maxing out the density limits of present magnetic memory technology as it becomes increasingly difficult to shrink the necessary grains used in the process. Thankfully, there's a team of German scientists devoted to doing more than standing around and watching the inevitable happen. Cobalt, the element responsible for keeping your precious data intact, typically requires a 50,000 atom fleet for each grain, but boffins from Dresden have found a way to shrink that to a measly flotilla of 50. Without trampling you with technological details, attaching carbon rings to the cobalt reproduces the requisite hexagonal close packed structure, which leads to reduced space requirements. Should this technique prove viable, we can expect yet another race among hard drive makers as they strive to make each other's most capacious drives look downright diminutive. Hit the read link for all the grizzly details.
[Via
Graphene-Info]
Filed under: Storage
Carbon ring storage promises 1,000 times higher memory density originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Jul 2009 08:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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carbon ring memory, CarbonRingMemory, cobalt, data, graphene, Hard Drives, HardDrives, hexagonal close packing, HexagonalClosePacking, Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research, magnetic, memory, memory density, MemoryDensity, Ruijuan Xiao
