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85 Comments
- ddssg, on 09/27/2008, -2/+49There's something wrong here... So he's doubled the efficiency (that would put his cell at 50-80% efficient, which would be *amazing* in itself), but it has 500 times more light absorption. The only way to get that is to increase the concentration factor it can handle (the intensity of light compared to full sunlight). The maximum now is something like 2,000, which would mean his would have to handle 250 times that, or sunlight concentrated to 500,000 times its normal intensity. You have 20% losses to heat on that, and you have an about 25 million watts per square meter of waste heat. You can describe it in two words, but it's not "solar cell." It's "instant inferno."
- inactive, on 09/28/2008, -3/+32Buried for having been on Digg.com 5 times, Fox news, MSNNC, Yahoo's first page, Gawker, CNN, NBS and if this is news to anyone. Read something!!
- AcidBurnz, on 09/28/2008, -0/+27This story was on reddit a few weeks ago, and then a follow up story a week ago. It was the consensus (with proof, but i can't find the thread now) that he literally stole the work from an existing patent dating 2005.
- kelstock, on 09/28/2008, -3/+23Good stuff kid.
As an engineer who also studied physics, I'll actually be interested when Yuan publishes his work in a peer reviewed journal, rather than yet another random website telling us a bunch of numbers on 'how good his invention is' with little to no context.
SPIE is the International Society for Optical Engineering and sponsors conferences and publishes the relevant journal for the field. http://spie.org/x399.xml - nickycakes, on 09/28/2008, -1/+18Wasnt it shown that he jacked the idea from someone else?
- str1, on 09/27/2008, -3/+20Smart kid.
- AgmLauncher, on 09/28/2008, -0/+10I'm pretty sure that none of the facts/figures stated in this kid's science project can be taken seriously until they're scientifically verified. It's not beyond a kid's parents or the local paper to make a kid's science project sound more awesome than it really is. My parents did that for my science projects, and local papers bought into it.
Stories about ultra-smart kids are good publicity for local papers, so they tend to inflate the facts or report directly what the kid claims in his project, which is probably incorrect 100% of the time. - jacquesm, on 09/28/2008, -1/+10this is utter ***** and should be dugg down as fast as possible.
Current solar cells are 20% effective, to claim 500 times improvement is so far into the realm of the impossible it's not even funny. - Ymeg, on 09/28/2008, -1/+9Anyone else a bit skeptical?
As far as I know, his ideas have yet to be reviewed. - BlueTunicLink, on 09/28/2008, -1/+8Information from Georgia Tech (they made them already)
http://www.physorg.com/news95520809.html
http://www-stage.gatech.edu/news-room/flash/CNTpv. ... - inactive, on 09/28/2008, -0/+7Yet the article clearly states 500 times and not 500%.
- noPCtoday, on 09/28/2008, -3/+10this was on front page last week...
normal solar panel has 30~40.5% energy efficiency... now 500%more efficient means.. 150%~200% energy effiency?? what did conservation of energy say?? - AgmLauncher, on 09/28/2008, -0/+6It's not 500%, that's only 5 times more light absorption. The article clearly states 500 times, meaning it's 50,000% better.....
It's so awesome in fact, it spawns photons on demand.... - psy333che, on 09/27/2008, -4/+10Good for Him
- Tollboi, on 09/28/2008, -1/+7I want to grow up and be just like him.
- Ymeg, on 09/28/2008, -2/+7Those damn corporations.
- bincoder, on 09/28/2008, -4/+9again with this????
You cannot take something that is 15% efficient and get something that is 500 times better. That would be 7500% efficiency. lmao
one 100 watt lightbuld hits it and you get 500 watts out, power 5 100 watt bulbs with it shine that on another solar cell and get 2500 watts out.. and on and on. Sorry that aint a gonna happen.
Soon, one would just need a tiny LED from a watch to power the entire universe.
Younguns really should pay attention in class and not be wasting time on texting.
Since any 3 year old knows the laws of physics to that degree. - GunOfSod, on 09/28/2008, -0/+5yup someones selling something.
- chikuten, on 09/28/2008, -0/+5this story was on digg a few weeks ago as well, but with better writing.
- CrushThemTorg, on 09/28/2008, -1/+6Thank God. I've gone almost twenty minutes without seeing this story.
- andrespereyda, on 09/28/2008, -0/+4oh my gosh, that link is hilarious. hehe, this is like it's own genre of comedy.
- kmpr326, on 09/28/2008, -0/+4Or you can perfect an idea from an old patent and credit the original inventor. You know...like he did.
- Philbert, on 09/28/2008, -0/+3The article doesn't even mention the fact that he's 12 years old, unless you click the link in his name and read the PDF file.
- diggerman32, on 09/28/2008, -1/+4Something smells fishy about this story...
But it could just be the kids lunchbox - mastermemorex, on 09/28/2008, -0/+3In Digg we have some respect to the laws of thermodynamics.
- inactive, on 09/28/2008, -2/+5500 times? Behold the kid that saved the world!
- VieRelative, on 09/28/2008, -0/+2Not the first time I've heard of drastically improved effectiveness. If I remember correctly it's because solar cells function over a limited range of the light spectrum (so they get 15% efficiency on that spectrum). Broaden the spectrum a thousandfold and you'll probably get your 500X effectiveness improvement.
- TurdZilla, on 09/28/2008, -0/+2Don't hold your breath!!! You know who aka "He who shall not be named" is making alot of money on oil so this kool but until i can buy something its vaporware....
- RevAradia, on 09/27/2008, -2/+4It's a cool story and I think the kid is a miracle but some of it kind of loses me. Maybe I'm just too old *sigh*
- tkhooker, on 09/28/2008, -1/+3Nice, now when can I put one on my roof and independently power my house?
- inactive, on 10/20/2008, -0/+1Okay, ready for a science lesson? ;)
It does not say an improvement in electricity generating efficiency. It says 500 times more light absorption. Efficiency and light absorption are not the same thing here. By increasing the spectrum width, to include all visible and UV light, it is fairly easy to increase light absorption. But converting that light into electricity may be less or more or the same efficiency that we currently have. It does not say.
The efficiency generally referred to when talking about power sources is the conversion of whatever is the fuel to useful energy. Just as a 28% efficient gasoline engine converts only 28% of the gas burned to useful energy, a solar panel converts only a portion (20+%) to useful energy, electricity. A big V8 engine produces more horsepower than a little 4 cylinder engine because it burns more fuel, not because it is more efficient. Both engines will have the same 28% gas engine efficiency, but more fuel = more horsepower. You pay at the pump. A bigger engine with more horsepower costs you more fuel, more money.
This guy just came up with a way to increase the fuel input to solar panels, because solar panels worked off only a tiny portion of the visible spectrum. That is to say, he has increased the portion of sunlight that hits a solar panel that the panel will use to make electricity from. Since sunlight is virtually free, and you don't "pay at the pump," making a bigger V8 to deliver more horsepower that uses more fuel (sunlight) but doesn't cost more, is a good thing.
For advanced students: Yes, he has increased the efficiency of light absorption. That is, if you take the entire solar energy output (sunlight) we were only using a very teeny tiny portion of that spectrum. What he has done is to use more of that spectrum. That is a different efficiency. With the gas engine analogy, what this guy has done has increased how much crude oil can be made into gasoline. Currently only about a third of the volume of crude oil can be make into gas, the rest becomes other products,, such as lubricating oil or tar. (It is possible to develop more expensive methods of turning more crude into gasoline, but the other products are worth some money also and so it may be more profitable to not improve that efficiency much more than what it is now.) - ConfirmedCynic, on 09/28/2008, -0/+1Keep hearing about these wonderful breakthroughs. Keep not seeing them translate into lower costs for solar panels. It's getting discouraging.
- wunksta, on 10/01/2008, -0/+1/faceplam
- principle, on 09/28/2008, -0/+1Without a prototype or a rigorous proof, these claims are mere conjecture.
- bincoder, on 09/29/2008, -0/+1Oh im so sorry that I offended the math police.
OK.
My bad, 500x is not 500%, it is 50,000%.
And no, a solar cell isn't going to put out 50,000% more power than it takes in either.
Case closed. - Auxon, on 10/20/2008, -0/+1500x probably comes from a combination of the amount of photons captured and the fact that it absorbs light from both UV and visible-light spectrums. Notice it says 9x more than the Georgia Tech 3D cells that he was improving and optimizing for.
- CrushThemTorg, on 09/28/2008, -1/+2Don't worry, I assume anyone who uses pulls the "social life" stunt on the internet in the middle of the night is really just a pathological liar who decided to pop by in between bouts of trolling YouTube and downloading any torrent with "MILF" in the title. Either that or a fourteen year old that's a prime candidate for a PSA on the dangers of cutting yourself.
- Auxon, on 10/20/2008, -0/+1@ moduc ... "Howvever, in daily conversation, I am not sure if people pay attention to this."
WTF do you mean? Whatever ... in any case the 500 times number probably comes from a combination of the amount of photons captured AND the fact that it absorbs light from both UV and visible-light spectrums. - inactive, on 09/28/2008, -0/+1Somehow I thought this guy would be asian. But good on him!
- BlueStarr, on 09/28/2008, -0/+1Takes time. Usually 5 to 10 years. But if he gets married and then kids.....forget about it. we'd have had a cure for Aids by now if it wasn't for bitches and that temptation for pussy.
- spambutcher, on 09/28/2008, -0/+1maybe - but I haven't seen anything so far suggesting he's any more credible than:
http://www.alexchiu.com/ - EmancipatedJake, on 09/28/2008, -0/+1***** the internet it is awesome that he made solar cells better but I want to know exactly how.... the news was so dumbed down and they repeated information 3 times...WTF WHERE IS MY REAL NEWS!!!
- BlueStarr, on 09/28/2008, -0/+1Why? We're all gona die anyways. Haven't you heard? In two billion years our galaxy will collide with another galaxy that at this very moment is traveling toward us at the rate of 700,000 kil per hour. I'm serious!
- Auxon, on 10/20/2008, -0/+1Current cells only absorb light in a limited spectrum.
- barbaragordon, on 09/28/2008, -0/+1This was in the news a good fortnight ago and made the front page if I recall.
- neutronphaser, on 09/28/2008, -0/+1٩(●̮̮̃•̃)۶
- Auxon, on 10/20/2008, -0/+125% efficient for a limited spectrum of light in current consumer cells.
500x probably comes from a combination of the amount of photons captured and the fact that it absorbs light from both UV and visible-light spectrums. Notice it says 9x more than the Georgia Tech 3D cells that he was improving and optimizing for. - bincoder, on 09/29/2008, -0/+1If im an idiot, then you are a retard.
Sorry if that word is offensive, but I have to use the language that You can understand.
Perhaps the world should turn over complete control of all things involving energy to Miss Smith, the first grade spelling teacher.
I will discredit anyone of any age that comes up with magical inventions that create more energy than they use.
Deal with it Dorothy. -
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