But bao thinks improved manufacturing techniques and nano-materials can improve the efficiency dramatically.

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Furthermore, unlike most examples of nanotechnology, these new materials may be able to make the elusive transition from nano-sized materials (a nanometre is a billionth of a metre) to macro-sized components.

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Researchers have already become much better at understanding how the structure of new nano-engineered materials will behave, although the process remains largely one of trial and error because different samples have to be repeatedly manufactured and tested.

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Rather, it refers to the process of dealing with materials and matter on a nano or molecular scale and, as such, cuts across an array of industries and scientific disciplines.

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"These results open the potential for visibly transparent polymer solar cells as add-on components of portable electronics, smart windows and building-integrated photovoltaics and in other applications, " said study leader Yang Yang, a UCLA professor of materials science and engineering, who also is director of the Nano Renewable Energy Center at California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI).

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