The first time I looked at it, I was almost thrilled to bits with the technology that is involved in it. It is so easy to know when someone is making a promise that is realistic and something that is almost a fabrication of the improbable and the lunatic. It becomes all the more easy to know the difference when you know the field you are dabbling in. Being a life-long crazy physics student, I was pretty happy to see the solid and simple technology behind this promise of 1366 Technologies.
1366 Technologies, a company named after the solar constant is working on improving multi-crystalline silicon solar panels. They claim to have found ways to make them about as efficient as single-crystal silicon solar cells, which are more efficient but also more expensive, without losing the cost benefits. Three different innovations allowed them to make their prototype 27% more efficient than conventional multi-crystalline silicon solar cells, bringing its total efficiency to 19.5%, about the same as single-crystal silicon solar cells.
The three technologies that allowed them to make this innovation are based on the simple and uncomplicated principles of physics. The one I like the most is the way the surface has been modified to cause total internal reflection. I wonder if this makes the surface shine like a diamond! The silver wires that are normally used are also replaced making them a lot cheaper and a lot more commercially viable. One hopes 1366 brings this out to commercial market very soon.
