Spire receives US patent for nanophotovoltaic devices

BEDFORD, USA: Spire Corp., a global solar company providing turnkey solar factories and capital equipment to manufacture photovoltaic modules worldwide, announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued US Patent No. 7,514,725 B2 entitled “Nanophotovoltaic Devices.”

This patent is for nanophotovoltaic devices formed from silicon or gallium arsenide having sizes in a range of about 50 nanometers to about 5 microns, and method of their fabrication.

Although there are a number of applications, the patent describes one application which is to inject nanophotovoltaic devices into diseased tissue, e.g., cancerous tissue, and activate these cells by the use of suitable radiation. These cells will generate electric fields in the tissue, causing a disruption of the cancerous cells.

Roger G. Little, Chairman and CEO of Spire and co-inventor, said: “This is an extension of our solar energy technology into biotherapeutics. Functionalized nanophotovoltaic devices can go to cancerous cells in the body and when exposed to tissue penetrating light, may provide sufficient electrical energy to destroy the cells. We are continuing to exploit this technology in our research and development activities.”