ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT: Quantum Dots Could Boost Solar Efficiency.

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have shown that colloidal nanocrystalline semiconductor quantum dots may greatly increase the amount of electricity produced by solar cells.

According to their studies, reported in the May issue of Nano Letters, the NREL team found that colloidal lead selenide quantum dots can produce as many as three electrons, equivalent to quantum yields of 300%, from one high energy photon of sunlight. When today's photovoltaic solar cells absorb a photon of sunlight, the energy gets converted to at most one electron, and the rest is lost as heat.

The research demonstrates the potential for solar, or photovoltaic, cells that reduce wasteful heat and maximize the amount of...

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