Aug. 29, 2005: Carbon Nanotubes Show Promise For Solar Cells, Other Devices
NISKAYUNA, N.Y. - GE Global Research has announced a breakthrough that could lead to a new generation of solar cells, as well as a wide variety of improved electronic devices.
The organization, which is the central research arm of General Electric Co., has developed a diode from carbon nanotubes - tubes of carbon on the scale of about a billionth of a meter - that operates at the best possible performance for diodes, the theoretical limit. The diode is also able to convert sunlight into electricity, which means it could be used to build a solar cell. Diodes are the fundamental building block for many electronic devices, including solar cells, transistors, computer chips, sensors, and light-emitting diodes (LEDs), so an "ideal" diode could result in a variety of more efficient devices, says the research lab.