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Energy-harvesting devices

Beyond the battery

Nature Nanotechnology volume 3, pages 71–72 (2008)Cite this article

A wide variety of nanomaterials are being explored in the search for technologies that can extract energy from the environment to generate electrical power for sensors and other devices.

Richard Swanson (Sunpower Corporation) described the tremendous progress that has been made in reducing the cost of silicon-based photovoltaic technology through a combination of reduced manufacturing costs and clever device engineering to increase efficiency. At present, further reductions in the cost of solar energy from photovoltaic systems are limited by the supply of silicon but it is expected to achieve cost parity with grid-based power supply in 2012 (ref. 2). Although many alternatives to photovoltaics are being explored, such as dye-based technologies3 and nanostructured materials designed to prevent recombination of charge carriers4, it is important to recognize that silicon-based photovoltaics have experienced exponential reductions in cost over the last 40 years. New technologies will ultimately be needed, but there is still scope to substantially improve the performance of silicon-based photovoltaics.

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Figure 1: Leader of the pack.

© D.Watts JR./123RF

References

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  1. Bruce E. White Jr is in the Department of Physics, Applied Physics and Astronomy, Binghamton University, Binghamton, New York 13902, USA. bruce.white@binghamton.edu

    Bruce E. White Jr

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  1. Bruce E. White Jr
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White, B. Beyond the battery. Nature Nanotech 3, 71–72 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2008.19

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2008.19

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