3. Solar cells are a source of clean electricity that
produce no CO emissions beyond those produced by the materials used in their manufacturing. They also have no moving parts and
harness an abundant, renewable resource
(sunlight). These properties have made them
highly appealing for future energy generation.
a. Global energy consumption in 2010 was
roughly 17 TW. How large of an area of 20%
efficient photovoltaic cells would be needed
to meet this demand, assuming average
sunlight of 1000 W/m and neglecting any
storage or transmission losses? Compare
this to the total land area of the earth and
the land area of your country/state/region.
b. How might nanomaterials be useful for
producing photovoltaic cells able to cover
very large areas?
c. Recall that the power produced by a photovoltaic cell is proportional to the product
of V and I. The efficiency of a photovoltaic
cell is the power produced by the cell
divided by power delivered by the sunlight
striking the cell. Could you increase the
efficiency of a solar cell by making V very
large? Consider how V is related to the band
gap of the system and the meaning of the
band gap in terms of which photons can be
absorbed. Looking up an emission spectrum
for sunlight may be useful, but is not
required. What would happen if you made V
very small instead?
4. The rate constant k for Förster transfer decays
as the sixth power of the distance between the
donor and acceptor. Using what you learned
about electrostatic interactions in Chapter 5,
explain where this r dependence is observed.
Cited references
Allen, M. J., Tung, V. C. and Kaner, R. B. Honeycomb
Carbon: A Review of Graphene. Chemical Reviews 2010,
110: 132–145.
Anikeeva, P. O., Halpert, J. E., Bawendi, M. G., and
Bulovic, V. Quantum Dot Light-Emitting Devices with
Electroluminescence Tunable over the Entire Visible
Spectrum. Nano Letters 2009, 9: 2352–2356.
Baddour, C. E. and Breins, C. Carbon Nanotube Synthesis:
A Review. Int. J. Chem. React. Eng. 2005, 3: 1–20.
Banerjee, D., Xu, W., Nie, Z., Johnson, L. E., Coghlan, C.,
Sushko, M., Kim, D., Schweiger, M., Kruger, A., Doonan, C.,
and Thallapally, P. K. Zirconium-Based Metal–Organic
Framework for Removal of Perrhenate from Water. Inorganic Chemistry 2016, 55: 8241–8243.
Ciraci, S., Buldum, A., and Batra, I. P. Quantum effects in
electrical and thermal transport through nanowires.
Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter 2001, 13: R537–R568.
Crossland, E. J., Ludwigs, S., Hillmyer, M. A., and Steiner, U.,
Freestanding Nanowire Arrays from Soft-Etch Block
Copolymer Templates. Soft Matter, 2007, 3: 94–98.
Dai, H., Carbon Nanotubes: Opportunities and Challenges,
Surf. Sci., 2002, 500: 218–241.
Danyal, K., Shaw, S., Page, T. R., Duval, S., Horitani, M.,
Marts, A. R., Lukoyanov, D., Dean, D. R., Raugei, S.,
Hoffman, B. M., Seefeldt, L. C., and Antony, E. Negative
cooperativity in the nitrogenase Fe protein electron
delivery cycle. Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences 2016, E5783–E5791.
Gao, X., Yang, L., Petros, J. A., Marshall, F. F., Simons, J. W.,
and Nie, S. In Vivo Molecular and Cellular Imaging with
Quantum Dots. Curr. Opin. Biotechnol. 2005, 16: 63–72.
Gan, Q., Bartoli, F. J., and Kafafi, Z. H. Plasmonic-Enhanced
Organic Photovoltaics: Breaking the 10% Efficiency
Barrier. Advanced Materials 2013, 25: 2385–2396.
CHAPTER 9: Introduction to Functional Nanomaterials
380
produce no CO emissions beyond those produced by the materials used in their manufacturing. They also have no moving parts and
harness an abundant, renewable resource
(sunlight). These properties have made them
highly appealing for future energy generation.
a. Global energy consumption in 2010 was
roughly 17 TW. How large of an area of 20%
efficient photovoltaic cells would be needed
to meet this demand, assuming average
sunlight of 1000 W/m and neglecting any
storage or transmission losses? Compare
this to the total land area of the earth and
the land area of your country/state/region.
b. How might nanomaterials be useful for
producing photovoltaic cells able to cover
very large areas?
c. Recall that the power produced by a photovoltaic cell is proportional to the product
of V and I. The efficiency of a photovoltaic
cell is the power produced by the cell
divided by power delivered by the sunlight
striking the cell. Could you increase the
efficiency of a solar cell by making V very
large? Consider how V is related to the band
gap of the system and the meaning of the
band gap in terms of which photons can be
absorbed. Looking up an emission spectrum
for sunlight may be useful, but is not
required. What would happen if you made V
very small instead?
4. The rate constant k for Förster transfer decays
as the sixth power of the distance between the
donor and acceptor. Using what you learned
about electrostatic interactions in Chapter 5,
explain where this r dependence is observed.
Cited references
Allen, M. J., Tung, V. C. and Kaner, R. B. Honeycomb
Carbon: A Review of Graphene. Chemical Reviews 2010,
110: 132–145.
Anikeeva, P. O., Halpert, J. E., Bawendi, M. G., and
Bulovic, V. Quantum Dot Light-Emitting Devices with
Electroluminescence Tunable over the Entire Visible
Spectrum. Nano Letters 2009, 9: 2352–2356.
Baddour, C. E. and Breins, C. Carbon Nanotube Synthesis:
A Review. Int. J. Chem. React. Eng. 2005, 3: 1–20.
Banerjee, D., Xu, W., Nie, Z., Johnson, L. E., Coghlan, C.,
Sushko, M., Kim, D., Schweiger, M., Kruger, A., Doonan, C.,
and Thallapally, P. K. Zirconium-Based Metal–Organic
Framework for Removal of Perrhenate from Water. Inorganic Chemistry 2016, 55: 8241–8243.
Ciraci, S., Buldum, A., and Batra, I. P. Quantum effects in
electrical and thermal transport through nanowires.
Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter 2001, 13: R537–R568.
Crossland, E. J., Ludwigs, S., Hillmyer, M. A., and Steiner, U.,
Freestanding Nanowire Arrays from Soft-Etch Block
Copolymer Templates. Soft Matter, 2007, 3: 94–98.
Dai, H., Carbon Nanotubes: Opportunities and Challenges,
Surf. Sci., 2002, 500: 218–241.
Danyal, K., Shaw, S., Page, T. R., Duval, S., Horitani, M.,
Marts, A. R., Lukoyanov, D., Dean, D. R., Raugei, S.,
Hoffman, B. M., Seefeldt, L. C., and Antony, E. Negative
cooperativity in the nitrogenase Fe protein electron
delivery cycle. Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences 2016, E5783–E5791.
Gao, X., Yang, L., Petros, J. A., Marshall, F. F., Simons, J. W.,
and Nie, S. In Vivo Molecular and Cellular Imaging with
Quantum Dots. Curr. Opin. Biotechnol. 2005, 16: 63–72.
Gan, Q., Bartoli, F. J., and Kafafi, Z. H. Plasmonic-Enhanced
Organic Photovoltaics: Breaking the 10% Efficiency
Barrier. Advanced Materials 2013, 25: 2385–2396.
CHAPTER 9: Introduction to Functional Nanomaterials
380