A recent study performed at the Colorado School of Mines by Mark Lusk and his co-workers largely supports the earlier studies on the size of the quantum dots, also known as light-absorbing particles, and how they influence the ability of the particle to transmit energy to electrons to generate electric power. The result of the research is published in ACS Nano journal of April issue.
The research supports a debatable theory known as multiple exciton generation (MEG), which supports the feasibility of an electron charged with light energy, known as exciton, to pass that energy to additional electrons, thus generating more electric power from the same quantity of absorbed light.
An illustration of multiple-exciton generation (MEG)
The quantum dots are artificially made atoms that hold a number of electrons in a limited space. The dots’ characteristics are similar to an atom and lead to strange electronic attributes on a nanoscale. The unusual attributes may help in adjusting the manner in which light interacts with matter. The unusual phenomenon of producing electric power after the MEG is under a great deal of study because this is considered as an essential constituent for commercial understanding of MEG.
The researchers utilized a bunch of NSF-endorsed computers to measure the link between the quantum dot size and the rate of MEG. They established that each quantum dot holds a slice of solar spectrum and the smaller dots accomplish MEG for their slice more effectively than the larger-sized dots. The theory established that the solar cells built of quantum dots and exclusively tuned to the solar spectrum function more effectively than solar cells produced from materials that lack quantum dots.