Solar energy conversion.
- Materials Science Division
If solar energy is to become a practical alternative to fossil fuels, we must have efficient ways to convert photons into electricity, fuel, and heat. The need for better conversion technologies is a driving force behind many recent developments in biology, materials, and especially nanoscience. The Sun has the enormous untapped potential to supply our growing energy needs. The barrier to greater use of the solar resource is its high cost relative to the cost of fossil fuels, although the disparity will decrease with the rising prices of fossil fuels and the rising costs of mitigating their impact on the environment and climate. The cost of solar energy is directly related to the low conversion efficiency, the modest energy density of solar radiation, and the costly materials currently required. The development of materials and methods to improve solar energy conversion is primarily a scientific challenge: Breakthroughs in fundamental understanding ought to enable marked progress. There is plenty of room for improvement, since photovoltaic conversion efficiencies for inexpensive organic and dye-sensitized solar cells are currently about 10% or less, the conversion efficiency of photosynthesis is less than 1%, and the best solar thermal efficiency is 30%. The theoretical limits suggest that we can do much better. Solar conversion is a young science. Its major growth began in the 1970s, spurred by the oil crisis that highlighted the pervasive importance of energy to our personal, social, economic, and political lives. In contrast, fossil-fuel science has developed over more than 250 years, stimulated by the Industrial Revolution and the promise of abundant fossil fuels. The science of thermodynamics, for example, is intimately intertwined with the development of the steam engine. The Carnot cycle, the mechanical equivalent of heat, and entropy all played starring roles in the development of thermodynamics and the technology of heat engines. Solar-energy science faces an equally rich future, with nanoscience enabling the discovery of the guiding principles of photonic energy conversion and their use in the development of cost-competitive new technologies.
- Research Organization:
- Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC)
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC02-06CH11357
- OSTI ID:
- 1009350
- Report Number(s):
- ANL/MSD/CP-68950; TRN: US201106%%542
- Journal Information:
- Phys. Today, Vol. 60, Issue Mar. 2007; Conference: Short Course on Physics of Sustaionable Energy; Mar. 1, 2008 - Mar. 2, 2008; Berkeley, CA
- Publisher:
- AIP Conf. Vol. 1044, edited by D. Hafemeister, et al., American Institute of Physics : College Park, MD, pp. 309-321
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- ENGLISH
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