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We keep discovering extraordinary untapped potential underfoot in common things. Who knew that the sand around us has hidden smart phones — and glass, and glasses, and beach resorts — in plain sight all this time? God knew, and we entrepreneurs are privileged to glimpse His wonder, and to think His thoughts after Him.
Our Galectin Therapeutics has found what we hope will be life-changing cures in simple sugar. What if tin could do the same for solar power and energy? — RDM
Is Common Tin the Next Solar-Power Breakthrough?
by Patrick Cox
Transformational Technologies
May 17, 2014
Northwestern University researchers, writing in the journal Nature Photonics, reveal that by replacing lead perovskite with tin perovskite in solar cells, similar power-conversion efficiency could be achieved without the negative environmental impact of lead.
Perovskite, as you know, is a relatively recent material to be applied to solar power applications. It’s named for Russian mineralogist Lev Perovski, and was first identified in the Ural Mountains of Russia in 1839.
Tin and lead, while in relative proximity on the periodic table, do differ in important ways. Lead, for example, is toxic. Poisoning affects the human nervous system and nearly every organ. Tin, on the other hand, which is nearly as malleable as lead, has a fraction of the toxicity concerns and can, when combined with perovskite, absorb most of the visible light spectrum.
The Northwestern University team used the tin and perovskite material to create a five-layer “sandwich” topped with electrically conducting glass. In total, the five layers produce a solar-cell device approximately two microns thick, which thus far in testing has achieved a power conversion efficiency of 5.73%.
While this efficiency is nowhere close to lead perovskite cells that convert at an efficiency of 15% or more, the substituting of lead for tin alone is a development certain to capture the attention of other researchers looking for ways to make solar-power cells truly “clean” and to harness the relatively simple chemistry involved in improving this five-layer solar breakthrough.
As you’ve seen time and again in recent weeks in this space, solar technology is a field packed with innovation and improvements, much of it coming from nanotechnology that until recently was merely theoretical.
Solar-power advances under way are a prime example of technological “convergence”—one industry or advance impacting and improving another—like mineral studies in perovskite, for example, which has only been used in solar-power applications in the past decade.
Rod is one of our nation’s leading minds. He’s smart, original, and very committed—a combination that one rarely finds.
Rod Martin is a Reaganite-Thatcherite conservative…[and] a man who has spent much of his life ministering to and working for the benefit of others. I know Rod as an advocate for freedom, a leader who understands the real changes we need in Washington, and who has the drive and ability to make those changes happen.
Rod Martin is the kind of dynamic leader who has the knowledge, ability and experience to lead us successfully into the 21st Century. His vision for America is compelling.
Rod Martin literally wrote the book on excellence. Humble yet brilliant, a man of love and compassion, with penetrating clarity he illuminates the world around us, and we are both stirred and enlightened.
Rod Martin is a born leader and an outstanding political mind. Anyone who takes him on is going to have a serious fight on their hands.
Rod Martin is a man of uncommon vision and character. Ever since I first worked alongside Rod in the early days of PayPal, I’ve been struck by his powerful vision for the future. Rod understands the intersection of technology, politics and culture in a way that few others do.
Rod Martin wears with uncommon grace an uncanny ability to link his vigorous faith to the practical challenges of both the business world and the political arena. Yet the respect he shows for others carries a warmth and modesty that are both too rare among those who are strong advocates of feisty positions.
America badly needs more leaders who really get the future. We need more Rod Martins.
Rod Martin is a modern day philosopher-statesman. He is a capitalist intellectual, a conservative iconoclast, a gentle adversary and a kind prophet. He inspires us towards a fresh national vision built upon the original founding principles.
Rod Martin is not only effective and efficient, but he is also perceptive, wise and gracious. He gets things done. He is a great friend and a great ally.
Rod is one of the sharpest, most gracious men I know, and one of the most gifted political thinkers today. His ability to analyze issues and communicate thoughtful insights on them have earned him the respect of people across the political spectrum.
I am proud to have been Rod Martin’s friend for a quarter century, and I can tell you that he is one of the finest men and most outstanding leaders in our church and in our country today. He has a knack for turning everything he touches to success.
Rod Martin is a cornucopian entrepreneur and eutropic thinker whose influence radiates through an array of companies, institutions, movements and churches. A renaissance American, he is also a prolific friend of freedom and faith around the globe.
If Rod Martin represents the next generation of leaders, America has nothing to worry about.
A leader and a servant, in public life and in private, Rod Martin strides at the top of his profession, and has nowhere to go but up. He is in the truest sense of the word ‘outstanding’.
Rod Martin is undoubtedly one of the most accomplished thought leaders today. He is a wonderful mentor, a humble role model, and a deep inspiration for the next generation of scientific innovators and entrepreneurs.
Rod’s achievements pale beside his character and his brilliance. He sees what others can’t. He leads when others won’t.
Rod Martin is one of America’s finest young minds.
The future of technology is the future of America. Rod Martin sees that future clearly, and also sees how to shape it for the betterment of all. He is firmly rooted in the traditions of faith and patriotism that have made America great. That’s why he has made, and will make, so many outstanding contributions in so many areas.
