Patrick Pinhero, a former Idaho researcher now at the University of Missouri, has put out a press release claiming he can get the efficiency of solar panels from the current 20% to 95% at a stroke through what he calls a nantenna.
This has some reporters screaming "solar superpower," which is just what Pinhero wants them to say because he's looking for money.
What he actually seems to have is little more than what he previously showed in Idaho, a thin film of nanowires which, while promising because they can be created using a printing method on gold foil, still has a long way to go to become commercial.
The problem in Idaho was the gold. Gold is a fine conductor, but at $1,500 per ounce it's not useful in industrial applications.
The problem now is that while you may be able to get the power into the system, even accepting infrared light that bounces off the Earth after the Sun has set, you can't make it useful because the waves oscillate trillions of times per second — convention AC power oscillates 60 times per second. Whether Pinhero has a working rectifier that can be scaled to industrial production is an open question — the press materials at this point are unclear.
If he has a complete invention — printed circuits using conventional materials that are 95% efficient and can be turned into usable power — then he has a history-making breakthrough. But right now that's a big if. Extraordinary claims demand extraordinary proof, and it would be wise for reporters to remember that.
