nanodomes and plasmonics

mlail

All,

What do you think about the future of thin filmed panels. This link is one of several that I have read about. I do understand that most of these articles never come to light.

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-01-stanford-scientists-solar-future-nanodomes.html

Not that I am buying anything this year but I like to watch the market trends.

Thanks,
Marshall

niel

Re: nanodomes and plasmonics

a pv is a pv, but thin films are often about half the efficiency of crystalline types and are often sold for way too much $/w. some hybrids are a different story on efficiency, but still too costly. others may cite the output drop that occurs on many of them too, not to mention often having shorter warrantys.

russ

Re: nanodomes and plasmonics

What the writers that troll the university research center sites never mention (may not realize) is that from the university lab stage to commercial application is easily in the 10 to 20 year range.

jagec

Re: nanodomes and plasmonics

russ wrote: »

What the writers that troll the university research center sites never mention (may not realize) is that from the university lab stage to commercial application is easily in the 10 to 20 year range.

As someone who comes more from the academia side of things, I believe that there is a serious lack of people who are working in that twilight zone. Academics always assume that commercial development of their discoveries is Somebody Else's Problem, and venture capitalists have very little tolerance for doing years of R&D prior to coming out with a commercially viable product.

Frankly, I think that the time between the lab bench and the marketplace could be vastly reduced if more academics did "sell out" and form their own companies when they knew that a discovery had legs. But everyone's competing for a handful of faculty positions instead, even if it means years of toil as a low-paid postdoc...:roll: