Notre Dame researchers have created a semiconductive paste, which can turn surfaces its applied to into solar cells. A team of researchers, lead by Professor Prashant Kamat, created the new material by coating nano-sized particles of titanium dioxide with either cadmium sulfide or cadmium selenide, and then suspending them in a water-alcohol mixture to create a paste.
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The paste can then be applied to a transparent conducting material, which creates electricity when exposed to light.
The solar cell paint is cheap to produce, but it currently has a serious drawback: low efficiency. Silicon solar cells typically have 10-15% efficiency, while the material created by Kamat and his team has a 1% efficiency at best.
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?This paint can be made cheaply and in large quantities. If we can improve the efficiency somewhat, we may be able to make a real difference in meeting energy needs in the future,? says Kamat.
Due to its amazing properties, Kamat and his team dubbed the new material "Sun-Believable." The researcher believes that, if perfected, the new material could be a start of a new era in solar power.
This story originally published on Mashable here.
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