Nanotechnology and Solar Power 6/9/2016By Renato Mapembe1

This presentation will summarize the article posted by Dexter Johnson on the 10 th April Including illustrating why investing into solar power and nanotechnology is a sustainable energy. The following points covered in this presentation What is solar power Nanotechnology Benefits of solar power Costs Developments Quantum Dots 6/9/2016By Renato Mapembe2

Solar power is a renewable energy source that is obtained from the sunlight and in turn generated into electricity. The source of light can be caught directly from photovoltaic or indirectly from concentrated solar power. This is accomplished by the use of mirrors, lenses and tracking systems which focuses the sunlight into a beam. Picture source file location Image from green energy green home website. Retrieved on 27 th November content/uploads/2009/10/solar-photovoltaic- system.png 6/9/2016By Renato Mapembe3

Nanotechnology also known as nanotech is the process of controlling matter on an atomic or molecular scale. It deals in the structure of size in nanometres. Picture source file The picture was obtained on 27 th November 2009 from The International NanoScience Community QqUPuoMaulsCPk3Ha6yaU6Egyss66dA0zBv YWrGsvgO3Ww5LBn2ZBlczJ6QhOnQyW3GUt h*JKLE1f3F2N/dnatopo_big.jpg 6/9/2016By Renato Mapembe4

The benefits of using solar power, Solar energy is renewable and is something that can’t be used up. Environmentally friendly There is little to no negative environmental impacts from using it Solar technology is always improving The sun is a consistent power source In one day enough energy is acquired to meet the plants energy need for 1 year It’s lifetime is indefinite Individuals are able to generate their own energy by implanting solar panels onto their houses. 6/9/2016By Renato Mapembe5

The downside of resorting to solar energy is the costs. From Dexter Johnson article, the use of solar cells cost about $0.30 per kilowatt hour (kWh). Unlike the natural gas which costs about $0.03 per kWh, its 10 times more than solar energy. In 2005 a report by George Crabtree and Nathan Lewis for the US Department of Energy predicted in 20 to 25 years we can expect for the cost of solar cells to drop to $0.02 per kWh. 6/9/2016By Renato Mapembe6

The use of photovoltaic electricity has decreased by a factor of 20 mainly due to the increasing development of single-crystal silicon solar cells. Crabtree and Lewis theory of a cheaper cost for generating electricity is based on the idea of the continuous developments to creating cheaper crystalline materials which will eventually lead to a cheaper kWh price point. 6/9/2016By Renato Mapembe7

In theory the developments could be increased by the use of nanotechnology. Bring it as early as A third generation if solar cell will be need to be developed that can exceed the 32% Shockley-Queisser Limit. This could be possibly accomplished by the use of quantum dots. 6/9/2016By Renato Mapembe8

Quantum dots is the use for achieving photon multiplication which involves the manipulation of electron hole for pairs for each incoming photon. Doing so, it could lead to solar cells with efficiencies of 40% Picture source file location Image from green energy green home website. Retrieved on 27 th November content/uploads/2009/10/solar- photovoltaic-system.png 6/9/2016By Renato Mapembe9

1w 6/9/2016By Renato Mapembe10

Article source link: talk/nanotechnology_and_solar_power talk/nanotechnology_and_solar_power Solar Power source link: Photovoltaics source link: Concentrating solar power source link: Nanotechnology source link: 6/9/2016By Renato Mapembe11