Solar Energy Without Solar Cells?

[dacruick]

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-04-solar-power-cells-hidden-magnetic.html

 

[Drakkith]

Thats pretty interesting. Hopefully they find a way to do this with a lower intensity.

 

[dacruick]

If its true, I think it has tremendous potential.

 

[Drakkith]

Sure. Looks like it could greatly reduce the cost of generate solar power. We'll have to wait and see though.

 

[thopsy]

Can it be made work at lower intensities? The maximum possible concentration ratio for sunlight is < 50 000 times (for a cell immersed in a medium of refractive index = 1). For a direct normal irradiance of 1000 W/m^2, this gives a maximum solar flux on the cell of 50 million W/m^2. According to the article such a device would require 10 million W/cm^2 = 100 billion W/m^2. This is 2000 times higher than the theoretical limit, so I hope they can find some materials requiring a lower intensity.