Another nanomaterial called black silicon has a surface composed of a vast number of atomic-scale needles smaller than the wavelength of light.[220] This nearly eliminates reflections from a cell, ensuring that more of the incoming photons create electricity. Princeton researchers have developed an alternative method of maximizing electricity by using a nanoscale mesh of gold atoms just 30 billionths of a meter thick to trap photons and increase efficiency.[221] Meanwhile, a project at MIT has created photovoltaic cells from sheets of graphene, a special form of carbon that is only one atom
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