September/October 2008
Intensifying the Sun
A new way to concentrate sunlight could make solar power competitive with fossil fuels.
By Kevin Bullis
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Marc Baldo poses with a collection of glass sheets coated with light-emitting organic dyes. The dyes absorb light and reëmit it into the glass, which channels it to the edges of the sheets. Baldo uses the devices to concentrate sunlight, making solar power cheaper.
Credit: Porter Gifford |
In his darkened lab at MIT, Marc Baldo shines an ultraviolet lamp on a 10-centimeter square of glass. He has coated the surfaces of the glass with dyes that glow faintly orange under the light. Yet the uncoated edges of the glass are shining more brightly--four neat, thin strips of luminescent orange.
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Massachusetts Institute of Technology