Nanowire solar cells raise efficiency limit.

At the Nano Science Center at the Niels Bohr Insitute in Denmark, a group of scientists have demonstrated that a single nanowire can concentrate sunlight up to 15 times the normal intensity of sunlight. 

One the left an image of a SEM of the GaAs nanowire crsytal, next to it an image of a TEM of a single nanowire and on the right side a capture of a STEM of the nanowire's surface.

The nanowire naturally concentrates the sun's rays into a very small area in the crystal by up to a factor 15. This happens because the diameter of the nanowire is smaller than the wavelength of the light that comes form the sun and it causes resonances in the intensity of the ray of light in and around the Thus, the resonances can give a concentrated sunlight, where the energy is converted, which can be used to give a higher conversion effeciency of the sun's energy.

Fuente: Nanowerk, (2013). Nanowire solar cells raise efficiency limit. Recuperado el 11 de mayo de 2012, de http://www.nanowerk.com/news2/newsid=29679.php