UC San Diego nanostructures will raise thin-film solar cell efficiency
(University of California - San Diego) University of California, San Diego electrical engineers are working toward thin-film "single junction" solar cells with the potential for nearly 45 percent sunlight-to-electricity conversion efficiencies. This is well above theoretical limit of 31 percent efficiency for conventional single junction cells. Nanostructures such as quantum wells and nanoparticles are the keys to the new work that recently received a big funding boost from the US Department of Energy's Solar America program.
Democrat Barack Obama's appeal to  centrist voters has further opened the door to Republican claims his message of change only applies to the positions he has taken in the past.
AP - Iran indicated Saturday that it has no plans to meet a key Western demand that it stop enriching uranium, a day after Tehran sent the European Union a response to an international offer of incentives for halting enrichment.
AP - The call girl involved in a scandal that brought down New York's former governor has dropped a lawsuit claiming "Girls Gone Wild" founder Joe Francis exploited her image and name on the Internet.
