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Wednesday 3 December 2008
Research
Latest News
|NewsletterMaterials R&D
Plant cells improve efficiency of solar panels
Thursday 7 September 2006
More efficient solar panels which use molecules that mimic those in plants could be a commercial reality in five years.
Dr Deanna D’Alessandro, postdoctoral researcher in the molecular electronics group at the University of Sydney, said the best leaves can harvest 30 to 40 per cent of the light falling on them while the best solar cells convert only 15 to 20 per cent.
“We’ve recreated some of the key systems that plants use in photosynthesis,” said D’Alessandro.
Plants have wheel-shaped arrays of molecules called porphyrins for the photosynthesis process which the researchers have mimicked.
The large number of porphyrins in a single molecule means that a significant amount of light can be captured and converted to electrical energy.
Dr Deanna D’Alessandro, postdoctoral researcher in the molecular electronics group at the University of Sydney, said the best leaves can harvest 30 to 40 per cent of the light falling on them while the best solar cells convert only 15 to 20 per cent.
“We’ve recreated some of the key systems that plants use in photosynthesis,” said D’Alessandro.
Plants have wheel-shaped arrays of molecules called porphyrins for the photosynthesis process which the researchers have mimicked.
The large number of porphyrins in a single molecule means that a significant amount of light can be captured and converted to electrical energy.
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