Comments on: Revolutionary Tiny Solar Cells

By: Stephen Salgaller

Stephen Salgaller — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 17:17:46 +0000

Texas Instruments IC inventor Jack Kilby created BB sized solar cells back in 1985, but his great idea was never produced; costs go down with smaller cells.

By: al

al — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 13:02:33 +0000

I would not be worried about controlling the size of small particles – for decades the photographic film industry has been creating controlled “particle size distributions” of silber halide crystals by empirical bucket chemistry, only recently somewhat subjected to some control via redox potential methods. HOWEVER, the words “could”, “might” etc… in the article suggest that at present it is more wishful thinking than realizable reproducible manufacturing and implementation technology.

By: ROLLIN S

ROLLIN S — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 18:19:49 +0000

Would have been nice to see some real specs like how much power you get from each one and how many you would need to mount for say a 100 watt panel.

By: Cindy Shollenberger

Cindy Shollenberger — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 16:23:38 +0000

I suppose we now have a new and different way of putting out those holiday decorations. Seriously, I like the idea that these are not so incredibly bulky and pose new and different methods of using their energy.

By: Paul

Paul — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 18:04:12 +0000

What are the ramifications for home solar power? Could more cells be used to power a house? Would the cost be cheap enough eventually to overcome the current limitation of houses needing to face north/south for maximum efficiency?

By: Gary

Gary — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 17:42:33 +0000

Interesting article. My question is how are the cells controlled such that they can be connected and generate needed voltages and currents? I’m thinking the small size will be hard to control in manufacturing.