新式塗料太陽能板技術提升50%能效

(R. Colin Johnson)
透過一種將有機染料塗在窗戶上，而使得新建置的太陽能板幾乎無法用肉眼察覺的「塗料太陽能板」(Paint-on solar panels)技術，據稱可望提升50%的太陽能轉換效率。
塗料太陽能板的開發者表示，由於所吸收的光線可傳至太陽能板邊緣轉換成能源，因而我們只需在太陽能板邊緣加裝主動式太陽能電池，即可降低成本。
根據美國麻省理工學院(Massachusetts Institute of Technology，MIT)的工程教授Marc Baldoat表示，太陽能收集器通常需要以鏡片或透光來追蹤太陽的位置，接著將焦點產生的熱散去。Baldoat所開發的有機染料塗層製程不需使用鏡片即可吸收光線，不會有由焦點產生熱的問題，也不需要加裝任何外部零件。
透過該項製程的太陽能板可將光源集中達40倍，而架設於邊緣的太陽能電池即可將太陽能轉換成電能。
該染料透過一塊玻璃表面吸收具有特定波長的光源，接著透過太陽能板，以不同波長將太陽能傳輸到位於邊緣的太陽能電池。由於主動式太陽能電池只需要被安裝在太陽能板邊緣，因此它們的價格將比傳統的太陽能板便宜，Baldo表示。
過去業界也曾使用過高分子塗料在太陽能板表面傳輸光線，然而MIT的技術是首次在玻璃表面塗上塗料的製程技術。具有不同染料塗層的應用使研究人員得以控制可被吸收的光波長，以及最小化太陽能傳輸到邊緣電池時的能量損耗。
塗料太陽能板的開發計畫是由MIT電子實驗室博士後研究人員Shalom Goffri以及Michael Currie、Jon Mapel和Timothy Heidel博士候選人共同參與，並由美國國家科學基金會(National Science Foundation)、MIT電子實驗室、微系統技術實驗室(Microsystems Technology Laboratories)以及軍事奈米技術研究所(Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies)共同贊助。

<原文>
Paint-on solar panels could cut cost, boost efficiency
R. Colin Johnson EE Times (07/10/2008 2:00 H EDT)
PORTLAND, Ore. — Paint-on solar panels could boost current energy efficiency by 50 percent while making new solar panel installations virtually invisible by painting organic dyes onto windows.
By absorbing light and transporting energy to panel edges, developers of the paint-on solar panels said they could lower cost by only requiring active solar cells around a panel edges.
Solar concentrators usually have to track the sun with mirrors or light troughs, then dissipate heat building up at their focal points, according to Marc Baldoat, an engineering professor at the Massachusetts Institute of technology. His organic-dye coating process absorbs the light without mirrors, has no focal point to heat up and requires no moving parts.
Edge-mounted solar cells, where light is concentrated by as much as 40 times, then convert the energy to electricity.
The dyes absorb light across a glass panels surface in a range of wavelengths, then transport energy across the panel and re-emit it at a different wavelength in solar cells at the edges. Since active solar cells need only be mounted around the edge of these panels, they will be cheaper than traditional solar panels, Baldo claimed.
Shalom Goffri, a postdoctoral associate in MIT's Research Laboratory of Electronics also contributed to the work, along with doctoral candidates Michael Currie, Jon Mapel and Timothy Heidel.
Using dyes to transport light across a solar panel's surface has been tried before using polymers, according to the researchers. The MIT technique represents the first time it has been applied to glass. The application of several coats of different dyes allowed the researchers to control which wavelengths are absorbed, as well as minimize losses as energy is transported to the edge-mounted solar cells.
Funding for development of the paint-on solar panels was provided by the National Science Foundation, MIT's Research Laboratory of Electronics, Microsystems Technology Laboratories and the Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies.