Army and Air Force Push Solar Power into Quantum Territory

Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News!

air force and army fund research on low cost solar power with quantum dotsThe Department of Defense has been on a roll with new solar energy installations, but the real action is going on behind the scenes in laboratories where DoD is quietly supporting research into low cost, lightweight solar cells enhanced with quantum dots. In the latest project, researchers from the Army Research Laboratory and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research have teamed up with the University of Buffalo to create a quantum-enhanced technology that could boost existing solar cell efficiency by up to 45 percent, and possibly more.

Quantum Dots and Solar Power

Quantum dots are microscopic crystals, less than a nanometer (one billionth of a meter) wide. Because of their extremely small size, quantum dots have unique properties  that could revolutionize the production of cheap, ultra-efficient solar cells. They can be created through a chemical reaction that avoids the energy consumption and maintenance costs involved in fabricating that other important semiconductor in photovoltaic technology, silicon.

Army and Air Force Pursue Q-Dot Solar Tech

The University of Buffalo project involves increasing the efficiency of solar cells by embedding quantum dots within them, enabling the cells to capture more light from the infrared end of the spectrum. Other research teams are pursuing a similar path but the Buffalo team has added a new twist: their quantum dots are selectively “doped” to have a built-in charge, which makes them repel electrons that otherwise might be trapped. This enables more electrons to contribute to the electricity generated by the solar cell.

Low-Cost Solar Power From the Department of Defense to You, with Love

The Buffalo team has gotten well beyond the tinkering-around phase of its research and has founded a company called OPtoElectronic Nanodevices LLC. (OPEN LLC) to commercialize its technology, which it calls Q-BIC (quantum Chip in a few dollars a month to help support independent cleantech coverage that helps to accelerate the cleantech revolution! dots are called Q-dots for short). Q-BICs can be applied to existing solar cells, so there is no need to spend additional time developing a platform in which to embed them. The next step is to get additional funding, if not from federal resources then from private investors, to get the technology in shape for mass production.

Image: Solar panels at Nellis Air Force Base. License AttributionShare Alike Some rights reserved by theregeneration.

Follow Tina Casey on Twitter: @TinaMCasey.


Have a tip for CleanTechnica? Want to advertise? Want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.

Latest CleanTechnica TV Video


Advertisement
 
CleanTechnica uses affiliate links. See our policy here.

Tina Casey

Tina specializes in advanced energy technology, military sustainability, emerging materials, biofuels, ESG and related policy and political matters. Views expressed are her own. Follow her on LinkedIn, Threads, or Bluesky.

Tina Casey has 3261 posts and counting. See all posts by Tina Casey