Physicist develops method to increase efficiency of concentrator solar cells

Washington, June 26 (ANI): A physicist has presented a way of increasing the efficiency of concentrator solar cells, in which light is concentrated 400-fold through lenses onto solar cells.

The concentrator technology enables expensive semi-conductor material to be replaced with cheaper lens systems, and greater efficiency to be achieved.

The contacting of the semi-conductor layers plays a crucial role here, and Marc Steiner's new simulation program optimizes the structure and configuration of the metallic contact fingers.

These calculations yielded unprecedented efficiency factors for concentrator solar cells.

Genes play an important role in every organism, particularly where its development and adaptation to the environment are concerned.

Modern sequencing technology means that genomes can now be quickly mapped.

However, it is still not entirely clear which genetic program is running during which phase of growth.Gene expression - that is, the analysis of which genes are switched on at any given point in time, and which are not - can supply the relevant answers.

This helps to differentiate cells, and to understand biological systems on a molecular level.

The aim of the thesis "Global methods for the analysis of metatranscriptions on the single-cell level" by Christian Grumaz from the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB was to establish a new, straightforward procedure that gets by with small sample quantities and enables a high throughput.

"I was able to complete this plan successfully," said Christian Grumaz.The procedure is extremely sensitive, which means that it could potentially be applied in diagnostics, where biopsy material, for example, is usually only available in small quantities.

A high throughput of samples is also possible, as parallel sequence technologies can be used.

The analysis procedure is of interest for diagnosis, drug development and basic research. (ANI)