Paper on Improving Solar Cells Nets Zakhidov 'Top 5' Honor from Materials Research Society

A scientific paper on improving polymer solar cells, authored by Dr. Anvar Zakhidov and colleagues at The University of Texas at Dallas NanoTech Institute, was selected one of the “Top 5 Hot Talks/Cool Papers” submitted at the 2007 spring meeting of the Materials Research Society held last month in San Francisco.  The honor was announced last week by the society.

The paper, published recently in the international journal Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, describes the efforts of NanoTech Institute researchers to build organic solar cells utilizing sheets of carbon nanotubes that collect a greater amount of energy from sunlight than other photovoltaic devices.  The UT Dallas scientists have demonstrated the ability to double the collection efficiency of organic solar cells.

The “Top 5” papers and talks were selected from the more than 3,300 oral and poster presentations featured at last month’s meeting.  The winning presentations represented “research that translates to general public interest or application,” according to the society.

Other presentations similarly honored were submitted by researchers from the University of California at Berkeley, the Technion in Israel, the University of Florida and the Georgia Institute of Technology.

The 2007 spring meeting of the Materials Research Society drew nearly 3,700 attendees from all sectors of the global materials science and engineering communities.

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