Lasers etch a ‘perfect’ solar energy absorber

Date posted
Funding Agency
(Funded by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Army Research Office)

Researchers at the University of Rochester have demonstrated that using powerful femto-second laser pulses to etch metal surfaces with nanoscale structures could help create highly efficient solar power generators. The researchers found that tungsten, which is commonly used as a thermal solar absorber, has the highest solar absorption efficiency when treated with the new nanoscale structures.