Researchers at MIT have a very interesting idea of utilizing elastic strain on nanomaterials to create a funnel, of sorts, that electrons and holes are electronically forced to the bottom of a funnel. A pin essentially changes the uber thin sheath of nanomaterials which changes it’s characteristics and wavelengths essentially now able to capture solar energy that is not typically visible or usable before. That invisible spectrum accounts for much of the sun’s energy. In other words, the electricity that is gained from solar power is now increased because of altering inelastic material to elastic and capturing more of the sun’s spectrum as energy.
According to the article “One of the first commercial applications of elastic-strain engineering was the achievement, by IBM and Intel, of a 50 percent improvement in velocity of electrons simply by imparting a 1 percent elastic strain on nanoscale silicon channels in transistors.” This is an incredible breakthrough and I look forward to hearing more about this technology!
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