Fifty years after the introduction of photovoltaics, they are still stiff, bulky,
and extremely expensive. The time till cost recovery for silicon based solar panels
is 8 to 10 years.

Scientist at U.C. Santa Barbara are developing a way to make the sun’s energy affordable to everyone. Knowing to accomplish their goal, the first step
had to be finding a cheaper material than silicon. Dr. Alan Heeger made a (more…)

At McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, a team of scientists are working on an
ingenious way of solving the low efficiency problem of modern solar panels by growing
nanowires. Todays silicon based solar cells converts into electricity only 10 to 15
percent of the energy they absorb.

To put a nanowire into prospective for you:

1 nanometer = 1 billionth of a meter
800 nanometers = width of a human hair
100 nanometers = width of a nanowire
1/100th of a human hair = heigth of a nano wire (more…)