A Technology That Can "Recycle" Photons
http://www.gizmag.com/hybrid-lead-ha...photons/42496/
If the rest of us have to recycle things like our milk cartons, junk mail and beer bottles, shouldn't solar cells have to abide by the same rules? That's part of the thinking in new research that's just come out of the University of Cambridge. Researchers there have discovered that a certain material can actually recycle photons from light, which could lead to solar cells that are orders of magnitude more efficient than anything currently in use.
The synthetic materials the researchers worked with are called hybrid lead halide perovskites, and they've already been in use as solar cells for some time. But they have a unique property that hasn't yet been exploited. It seems that after the material is struck by light, the light is turned into electrical energy, as with all solar cells. But with perovskite, after the electricity has been generated, part of that electrical charge reforms itself back into photons, or light. If solar cells could be developed that can grab and reuse these photons, they'd be able to pump out much more power from the same amount of light used by current cells...