{"id":203621,"date":"2012-11-14T20:01:49","date_gmt":"2012-11-14T20:01:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/d45h139.public.uconn.edu\/sites\/news\/?p=13772"},"modified":"2025-01-29T16:56:27","modified_gmt":"2025-01-29T21:56:27","slug":"uconn-partners-with-penn-state-altoona-to-advance-solar-power-technology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2012\/11\/uconn-partners-with-penn-state-altoona-to-advance-solar-power-technology\/","title":{"rendered":"UConn Partners with Penn State Altoona to Advance Solar Power Technology"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>By Heike Brueckner<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The University of Connecticut has partnered with Penn State Altoona in a collaborative research initiative, supported by a three-year, $650,000 grant from the National Science Foundation.\u00a0 The project is entitled \u201cElectro-optical studies of nanoscale, geometrically asymmetric tunnel junctions for collection and rectification of light from infrared through visible\u201d and will study the physics of a device, called a \u201crectenna,\u201d that has the potential to dramatically advance solar power technology.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The research team include<a href=\"http:\/\/d45h139.public.uconn.edu\/sites\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/arrays2.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft  wp-image-13775 img-responsive lazyload\" title=\"arrays2\" data-src=\"http:\/\/d45h139.public.uconn.edu\/sites\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/arrays2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"221\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIxIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciPjwvc3ZnPg==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/221;\" \/><\/a>s UConn\u2019s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cheg.engr.uconn.edu\/brian-willis\">Dr. Brian Willis <\/a>of Chemical Engineering; Drs. Gary Weisel, Brock Weiss and Darin Zimmerman (Altoona Physics); and emeritus professors Paul Cutler and Nicholas Miskovsky (Penn State Physics).<\/p>\n<p>The rectenna will harness the visible portion of the solar spectrum, setting it apart from current technologies that are only capable of utilizing the infrared portion.\u00a0 The rectenna will comprise a nanosized antenna and ultra-fast tunnel diodes that collect and rectify solar radiation from infrared to visible.\u00a0 To manufacture such a device, the team developed a process called selective atomic layer deposition.\u00a0 This process makes the fabrication of arrays of thousands of nanoscopic, geometrically asymmetric tunnel junctions possible for the first time.\u00a0 The progress made possible by this research endeavor may increase solar power conversion technology efficiency, reduce costs, and create new economic opportunities.\u00a0 The project will enfold research and educational opportunities for high school, undergraduate and graduate students.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>UConn Engineering is partnering with Penn State Altoona in a collaborative research initiative, supported by a $650k NSF grant.  The project is entitled &#8220;Electro-optical studies of nanoscale, geometrically asymmetric tunnel junctions for collection and rectification of light from infrared through visible&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":122,"featured_media":224681,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1866],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2110],"class_list":["post-203621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-engr"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-01 23:39:47","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/122"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=203621"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203621\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":224682,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203621\/revisions\/224682"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/224681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=203621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=203621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=203621"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=203621"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=203621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}