Mowing the Lawn is the New Frontier

Researchers are working on a way to break down plant matter for it's photosynthetic molecules, and then spread that on solid instrument to create a solar panel. The ultimate hope is to be able to pour a mixture of chemicals on a bag of raked leaves or cut grass and create a paint that could then turn your windows into electricity producing panels. 

MIT researcher Andreas Mershin explains a different way of turning trash into treasure.

 Biophotovoltaics isn't a brand new idea, but low efficiencies, rapid degradation and dissemination of the paint-like mixture have stumped researchers up until now. Nine scientists recently published research on new advances that improve performance and could possibly allow the paint like mixture to be used on materials like recycled glass or metal. 

Read more about the science behind these biophotovoltaics in this report. Or check out Think Progresses take on the new advance!

No Stone Unturned: New Research Captures More Light

Researchers from MIT, Zhejiang University, Taiyuan University and the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign are some of the first developing new ways to use metamaterials for solar panels to capture a wide range of light. This newest design of panels uses a pattern of wedge shaped ridges which can then capture light at a wide range of wavelengths and angles of incidence. In other words- no light goes unused- this new design has an efficiency of almost 95%.

credit: Yanzia Cui, MIT

Metamaterials are extremely thin, which reduces the weight and cost of the panels, and this new design is easily created using standard photovoltaic cell manufacturing equipment.  Researchers hope to use this discovery to create an extremely high efficiency solar cells or optical sensors. Check out MIT's news to learn more about the science behind this new design. It will also be detailed in an upcoming issue of the journal Nano Letters. But you can find a preliminary version of the paper here.