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Using shampoo to make better solar panels
By MB-BigB | May 9, 2007
MSNBC is reporting that researchers at Rice University are exploring better and cheaper ways of making quantum dots, which as I reported on earlier, shows promise in increasing the efficiency of solar cells.
Micheal Wong, a chemical engineer at Rice, and his team have come up with a new formula that leads to a better yield of tetrapods, which so far seems to be the best type of quantum dot. The new formula has something in it called cetyltrimethylammonium bromide, which, oddly enough, is a common ingredient found in some shampoos. The cetyltrimethylammonium bromide replaces a different compound called alkylphosphonic acid, which is more expensive, more hazordous to use, and yielded far fewer tetrapods. Read more here
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Topics: Solar Power |