New design for a metamaterial could be far more efficient at capturing sunlight than existing solar cells
Friday, March 9, 2012 - 07:20
in Physics & Chemistry
Metamaterials are a new class of artificial substances with properties unlike anything found in the natural world. Some have been designed to act as invisibility cloaks; others as superlenses, antenna systems or highly sensitive detectors. Now, researchers at MIT and elsewhere have found a way to use metamaterials to absorb a wide range of light with extremely high efficiency, which they say could lead to a new generation of solar cells or optical sensors.