Solar panels are one of the most intriguing aspects of technology today. More specifically, researchers and scientists all over the world are looking for new ways to make existing solar panels more efficient, cheaper, and appealing to the masses. As it turns out, there is a new type of solar cell which is primarily inspired by the wings of a butterfly. An interesting thing to think about, to say the very least.
A new Solar Cell With More Efficiency
To put this into perspective, there is still a lot of room for improvements when it comes to solar panel technology. A new solar cell recently unveiled shows how the team made some major progress when it comes to harvesting light. More specifically, the new call does it twice as efficient as regular solar panels to, which makes it of the utmost importance to plenty of people. This technology will not appear in consumer-grade solar panels out of the blue, mind you, as there is still a lot of research to be done.
The way most current solar panels work is by using thick solar cells. Moreover, they have to be positioned at a specific angle to ensure they collect the most amount of light under any circumstance. It is why most flat roofs will never house any solar panels, as setting it up is somewhat problematic. Sooner or later, those cells will effectively be replaced by thin film solar cells, though. This new technology is only nanometers thick, which is a big improvement.
To make things even more interesting, the thin film solar cells are far cheaper and lighter, but usually less efficient compared to the traditional solution. That is no longer the case, mind you, although scientists had to take some inspiration from an unlikely source. More specifically, they look at the black wings of the rose butterfly and copies its structure. A rather unusual approach, to say the very least, although it makes a lot of sense when looking at the bigger picture.
Due to this rather unusual research, we now have thin film solar cells capable of collecting light in a far more efficient manner. Having these cells absorb more light regardless of their angles opens up a whole new set of different opportunities people will be eager to explore in the future. The fact they are also easy and cheap to make will only bring them to market faster. Then again, for now, it is unclear as to when we may see consumer-grade technology featuring these thin film solar cells.
The choice for observing the rose butterfly is not random either, mind you. This species was forced to evolve in such a manner the wings become a lot better at absorbing energy. It took millions of years to come to this new and improved type of black wings, though, but it also confirms how Mother Nature will outpace human engineering in every possible way for quite some time to come. That doesn’t mean we can’t learn a thing or two from one another, though.
It will be interesting to see how this new development affects the solar panel industry as a whole. All companies want to be first to market when it comes to these new developments, for obvious reasons. The fact these panels can successfully generate more power throughout the day rather than only being efficient during certain parts of the day will be of great interest to a lot of consumers, for obvious reasons
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