Nano Technology for Renewable Energy

One of the biggest drawbacks with modern solar power devices is their efficiency even the most advanced devices only absorb a fraction of the incoming solar radiation, and can only a fraction of that radiation is converted into electricity. Most solar power generators in use today are solar cells, which use long, thin crystals of silicon to convert sunlight into an electric potential. These can absorb a maximum of about 48 percent of incoming solar radiation, about half of which can be converted into electricity. However, recent studies have shown that nanotechnology could be able to dramatically increase the absorptivity of solar cells, by replacing the crystalline silicon in solar cells with nanostructured silicon.