Scientists have created new technology that could store solar energy for weeks, instead of the mere microseconds possible with current devices.
The incredible new innovation was inspired by the way plants generate energy through the process of photosynthesis, UCLA reported.
"Biology does a very good job of creating energy from sunlight. Plants do this through photosynthesis with extremely high efficiency," said Sarah Tolbert, a UCLA professor of chemistry and one of the senior authors of the research. "In photosynthesis, plants that are exposed to sunlight use carefully organized nanoscale structures within their cells to rapidly separate charges - pulling electrons away from the positively charged molecule that is left behind, and keeping positive and negative charges separated," Tolbert said. "That separation is the key to making the process so efficient."
Today's silicon solar cells are relatively inefficient and expensive to produce. This new breakthrough consists of a polymer donor and a nano-scale fullerene acceptor. The donor captures sunlight and moves it to the electrons in the acceptor, generating electricity in the process. This is the first time this process has been demonstrated using synthetic organic photovoltaic materials.
The new design is more environmentally friendly than current technology because the materials can be assembled in water, instead of widely used toxic organic solutions.
"We don't have these materials in a real device yet; this is all in solution. When we can put them together and make a closed circuit, then we will really be somewhere," said Yves Rubin, a UCLA professor of chemistry and another senior co-author of the study.
For now, this study demonstrated inexpensive photovoltaic materials can be organized in a way that improves their efficiency.
The findings were published in a recent edition of the journal Science.
