Its great to hear of new ideas or of applications of old ones to...

Its great to hear of new ideas or of applications of old ones to new situations (c.f. Geojac's reference). The journalist's description is not entirely clear on what bit is new in the solar cell. It seems to me it is the overlay that is constructed of perpendicular nanorods that cause mutiple reflections, and hence absorption, down into the photovoltaic surface. A similar principle was used at the UNSW about 20 years ago by scoring parallel 'V' grooves directly into the photovoltaic surface to produce at least 2 or 3 reflections, giving an enhancement of ~25%. As the article says, the intrinsic efficiency of the material does not change, it is just that it gets several bites at the cherry. Is there a downside? Well, the new delicate surface has to be carefully protected. Ah, yes, so we coat that surface with a layer of epoxy, etc. Immediately we then start getting reflections off and out from that new surface and we are back almost at the beginning.

Neil's comment about just keeping the surface clean is so very appropriate. Besides the directly blocking effect, the red dust is also very gritty and the wind grinds away at the surface to produce a wonderful scattering medium (less solar energy penetration). Things work well in a sterile laboratory situation. Practical solutions have to be of low cost, effective, long life, and have low maintenance.

This is not to discourage new ideas. Brainstorm without ceasing. It is the second cycle of thought that has to make things work.

Juke