Indiana University researchers use carbon in the form of graphene to develop inexpensive solar cells. Their research will continue to refine the prototypes focusing on the cell efficiency. …
… “Li and his collaborators tried a different idea. By attaching a semi-rigid, semi-flexible, three-dimensional sidegroup to the sides of the graphene, they were able to keep graphene sheets as big as 168 carbon atoms from adhering to one another. With this method, they could make the graphene sheets from smaller molecules (bottom-up) so that they are uniform in size. To the scientists’ knowledge, it is the biggest stable graphene sheet ever made with the bottom-up approach. ” …
Via Indiana University: Carbon-based solar cell
Solar Cell Chemistry Research: “For this aspect of our research, concepts developed in supramolecular chemistry will be used to direct nanocrystal interactions and their consequent assembly. ”