RESEARCH I MATERIALS


Light whispering


Materials research know involves the manipulation of materials at the nano scale opening a range of engineering possibilities waiting to be discovered. A team of researchers at Stanford University in the USA have found inspiration for their new nanoshell based thin film solar cell in the peculiar acoustic phenomena found in whispering galleries. Andrew Myers, associate director of communications at the School of Engineering at Stanford University provided the following overview.


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isitors to Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol Building may have experienced a curious acoustic feature that allows a person to whisper softly at one side of the cavernous, half-domed room and for another on the other side to hear every syllable. Sound is whisked around the semi- circular perimeter of the room almost without flaw. The phenomenon is known as a whispering gallery. In a paper published in Nature Communications, a team of engineers at


24 www.solar-international.net I Issue II 2012


Stanford describes how it has created tiny hollow spheres of photovoltaic nanocrystalline-silicon and harnessed physics to do for light what whispering galleries do for sound. The results, say the engineers, could dramatically reduce materials usage and processing cost.


“Nanocrystalline-silicon is a great photovoltaic material. It has a high electrical efficiency and is durable in the harsh sun,” said


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