The ability to fabricate molecularly tailored interfaces with nanoscale precision can selectively modulate charge transport across hard matter-soft matter interfaces, facilitating transport of the “correct charges” while blocking transport of the “incorrect charges”. This interfacial tailoring can also control defect densities at such interfaces and stabilize them with respect to physical/thermal decohesion.
Researchers at Michigan Technological University have developed a honeycomb like structure of graphene in which the graphene sheets are held apart by lithium carbonate. They have used this “3D graphene” to replace the platinum in a dye sensitized solar cell and achieved 7.8 percent conversion of sunlight to electricity.
Researchers at Los Alamos National Lab have demonstrated a solar cell that uses a copper indium selenide sulfide quantum dots. Unlike quantum dots containing lead or cadium the copper based quantum dot is non-toxc as well as low cost.
Researchers at MIT are studying solar cells made from single molecule thick sheets of graphene and materials such as molybdenum diselenide. They are predicting that this type of solar cells could produce up to 1000 times as much more power for a given weigh of material than conventional solar cells. They have completed computer modeling and are working on building the solar cells.
