Nanotechnology microscope boosts solar research

Queensland University of Technology (QUT) is home to a powerful new ultrahigh vacuum and scanning probe microscope which is being used to develop efficient and low-cost plastic solar cells to charge laptops and mobile phones.

The $1.5 million German-engineered scanning probe microscope is the only one of its kind in Queensland, with four others in Australia located in New South Wales.

Lead researcher, and principal research fellow with the Faculty of Built Environment and Engineering, Associate Professor Nunzio Motta said the microscope, equipped with a tiny metallic tip to see individual atoms and allowing precision better than a hundredth of a nanometre, will  "open up many exciting new research opportunities" and accelerate QUT's efforts to study new materials with atomic resolution.

The microscope is equipped with sensitive surface probes, including two kinds of atomic force microscopes, an X-ray electron spectrometer and an electron microscope. Samples used in the microscope can be heated up to 1300°C and gases introduced through a special valve system to test how surface atoms react in different environments.To keep surfaces clean and to observe their atomic composition, the microscope is enclosed in a stainless steel evacuated vessel, where the pressure is similar to that found in outer space.

QUT researchers have started using the microscope to improve plastic solar cells by mixing them with tiny tubes of highly conductive carbon, called nanotubes, which are 100 times smaller than a strand of human hair.

"At the moment the plastic solar cells are quite inefficient, but they are already used in niche markets for very low power portable applications," Professor Motta said.

"We are aiming to improve the efficiency of these plastic solar cells by studying the microscopic structure of the material. If we can do that, the advantages would be enormous.

"Plastic solar cells could generate enough energy not only to recharge the batteries of laptops and mobiles, but even to obtain power from canopies on parking areas and on stadiums," he said.

QUT researchers also will be using the microscope to create a new class of solar-powered nanosensors capable of detecting pollution and monitoring the environment in remote areas.

The microscope, which received $800,000 in funding from the Australian Research Council, will be managed within the QUT-based Australian Microscopy and Microanalysis Research Facility Linked Laboratory. It will be moved to QUT's $230 million Science and Engineering Centre when it opens in 2012. Professor Motta said that scientists from a consortium of universities that helped fund the microscope, including Flinders University, the University of Queensland, Griffith University and Roma Tor Vergata University in Italy, would use it for research.

The microscope will be officially unveiled at 10.30 am on November 24 at QUT Gardens Point campus.

Those interested in attending should call (07) 3138 1150.