US Patent:
20070240757, Oct 18, 2007
Inventors:
Zhifeng Ren - Newton MA, US
Krzysztof Kempa - Billerica MA, US
Yang Wang - Allston MA, US
International Classification:
H01L 31/00
Abstract:
The present invention discloses a solar cell comprising a nanostructure array capable of accepting energy and producing electricity. In an embodiment, the solar cell comprises an at least one optical antenna having a geometric morphology capable of accepting energy. In addition, the cell comprises a rectifier having the optical antenna at a first end and engaging a substrate at a second end wherein the rectifier comprises the optical antenna engaged to a rectifying material (such as, a semiconductor). In addition, an embodiment of the solar cell comprises a metal layer wherein the metal layer surrounds a length of the rectifier, wherein the optical antenna accepts energy and converts the energy from AC to DC along the rectifier. Further, the invention provides various methods of efficiently and reliably producing such solar cells.