Georgia Tech Develops New Device That Turns Light Directly into Electricity

Current Alternative Energy sources just don’t really cut it. Making solar energy isn’t as simple as putting up some panels and powering your house. It, just like wind energy, require a several step process to make the absorbed energy usable. Now, some smart folks at Georgia Tech have come up with a new method that captures light and turns it directly into DC current.

It’s the world’s first optical rectenna, and that doesn’t mean the first camera driven antenna for your butt. It’s one part antenna and part rectifier diode. The result solar power without most of the work or cost to make it worth having!

This new tech not only eliminates the need for cooling, but also has the ability to create energy from waste heat. It’s made of Nanotube antennas that have an oscillating charge. The charge moves through the rectifier turning it on and off at insanely fast speeds. The result is a small electrical current. When you start grouping them together, the result is a metric crap ton of energy created from light.

Baratunde Cola, an associate professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at Georgia Tech had this to say about the impact of the new discovery:

“We could ultimately make solar cells that are twice as efficient at a cost that is ten times lower, and that is to me an opportunity to change the world in a very big way.”

Source: Inhabitat