Solar Power without Solar Cells太陽能的太陽能電池

A dramatic and surprising magnetic effect of light discovered by University of Michigan1 researchers could lead to solar power without traditional semiconductor-based solar cells.

戲劇性的和令人驚訝的磁光效應發(fā)現(xiàn)michigan1大學研究人員可能導致太陽能沒有傳統(tǒng)的半導體太陽能電池。

The researchers found a way to make an "optical battery," said Stephen Rand, a professor in the departments of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Physics and Applied Physics.

研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)了一種使“光電池，說：”史蒂芬蘭德，系教授電氣工程與計算機科學，物理和應用物理。

Light has electric and magnetic components. Until now, scientists thought the effects of the magnetic field were so weak that they could be ignored. What Rand and his colleagues found is that at the right intensity, when light is traveling through a material that does not conduct electricity, the light field can generate magnetic effects that are 100 million times stronger than previously expected. Under these circumstances, the magnetic effects develop strength equivalent to a strong electric effect.

光的電場和磁場組成部分。直到現(xiàn)在，科學家認為磁效應很弱，可以忽略。什么蘭德和他的同事們發(fā)現(xiàn)，在適當?shù)膹姸?，當光線穿過一個材料，不導電，光場可以產(chǎn)生磁效應，強100000000倍，比原先預期。在這種情況下，磁作用發(fā)展實力相當強的影響。

"This could lead to a new kind of solar cell without semiconductors and without absorption to produce charge separation," Rand said. "In solar cells, the light goes into a material, gets absorbed and creates heat. Here, we expect to have a very low heat load2. Instead of the light being absorbed, energy is stored in the magnetic moment3. Intense magnetization can be induced by intense light and then it is ultimately capable of providing a capacitive power source."What makes this possible is a previously undetected brand of "optical rectification4," says William Fisher, a doctoral student5 in applied physics. In traditional optical rectification, light's electric field causes a charge separation, or a pulling apart of the positive and negative charges6 in a material. This sets up a voltage, similar to that in a battery.

“這可能導致一種新的太陽能電池的半導體和不吸收不產(chǎn)生電荷分離，”蘭德說?！碧柲茈姵?，光進入材料，吸收和產(chǎn)生熱量。在這里，我們期望有一個非常低的熱3。相反的光被吸收，能量儲存在磁moment3。強磁化可誘導強烈的光，然后最終能夠提供一個電容電源?！笔鞘裁词惯@可能是一種以前未被發(fā)現(xiàn)的品牌“光rectification4，”威廉說，student5應用物理學博士。在傳統(tǒng)的光學矯正，光的電場使電荷分離，或撕裂的積極和消極charges6材料。這建立了一個電壓，類似于一個電池。

Rand and Fisher found that under the right circumstances and in right types of materials, the light's magnetic field can also create optical rectification. The light must be shone through7 a material that does not conduct electricity, such as glass. And it must be focused to an intensity of 10 million watts per square centimeter8. Sunlight isn't this intense on its own, but new materials are being sought that would work at lower intensities, Fisher said.

蘭德和漁民發(fā)現(xiàn)，正確的情況下，對各類材料，光的磁場也可以創(chuàng)造光整流。光線一定要照through7材料，不導電，玻璃等。它必須被集中到一個強度為10000000瓦每平方centimeter8。陽光不強烈的自己，但新材料被要求將工作在較低的強度，費雪說。

"In our most recent paper, we show that incoherent light9 like sunlight is theoretically almost as. effective in producing charge separation as laser light is," Fisher said.

“在我們的最新文件，我們表明，非相干light9理論幾乎像陽光。有效地產(chǎn)生電荷分離激光光，”。

This new technique could make solar power cheaper, the researchers say. They predict that with improved materials they could achieve 10 percent efficiency in converting solar power to useable energy. That's equivalent to today's commercial-grade solar cells.

這種新技術(shù)可以使太陽能更便宜的，研究人員說。他們預測，提高材料可以達到百分之10的效率，把太陽能轉(zhuǎn)換成可用的能源。這相當于今天的商業(yè)級太陽能電池。

"To manufacture modern solar cells, you have to do extensive semiconductor processing," Fisher said. "All we would need are lenses to focus the light and a fiber to guide it. Glass works for both . It's already made in bulk10, and it doesn't require as much processing. Transparent ceramics might be even better."

制造現(xiàn)代太陽能電池，你必須做廣泛的半導體處理，”他說?！彼形覀冃枰溺R頭集中光源和光纖引導它。玻璃工程為。它已經(jīng)在bulk10，而且不需要盡可能多的處理。透明陶瓷可能會更好。