Butterfly Wings Inspire New Efficient Solar Cell Design

If you'd like us to help you source a Quotation for this product, please complete the inquiry form with details of your area of interest and we will pass on your inquiry to the relevant person or department within the related company or organisation.

Once submitted, we will try and place you in contact with a suitable supplier within 48 hours.

Why do we go to all this effort on your behalf?

Simple -

We've lots of in house knowledge and contacts, so we're in a position to help.
We can save you time whilst generating more business for the Suppliers listed on www.AZoM.com.
Doing this helps to cement our position as the go-to Materials destination on the web.
We like it when everyone wins.

What you should know

Well, there's a few conditions that apply;

You agree NOT to pay us for this service.
We can only process requests where the email address matches the company name, e.g., yourname@yourcompany.com - We cannot respond to free email accounts such as hotmail)
You accept that you may be contacted by the supplier in response to your enquiry either by email, phone or mail.
You accept that the operators of www.AZoM.com cannot guarantee the suitability of any materials or services you may purchase from a supplier we've contacted on your behalf. You have to check that out with the supplier.
You're comfortable with supplying us with relevant information, for example, who you are and where you are based, what you want, how many you want, any delivery deadlines, restrictions on the location of the supplier, any price targets etc etc.
We will safeguard your privacy and only pass on the details contained in your email to the relevant supplier or suppliers if you've asked for that.
We can't guarantee that the supplier will respond and if they don't, you agree you won't get angry with us.
We promise we won't subject you to any follow up spam mail.
If you don't receive a response within 10 working days please send us a follow up enquiry and we'll try and help further.

Butterfly Wings Inspire New Efficient Solar Cell Design

The discovery that butterfly wings have scales that act as tiny solar collectors has led scientists in China and Japan to design a more efficient solar cell that could be used for powering homes, businesses, and other applications in the future. Their study appeared in the Jan. 13 issue of ACS’ Chemistry of Materials, a bi-weekly journal.

Close-up of the scales of a butterfly wing. These scales have inspired more powerful solar cells. Michael Apel, Wikipedia Commons.

In the study, Di Zhang and colleagues note that scientists are searching for new materials to improve light-harvesting in so-called dye-sensitized solar cells, also known as Grätzel cells for inventor Michael Grätzel. These cells have the highest light-conversion efficiencies among all solar cells — as high as 10 percent.

The researchers turned to the microscopic solar scales on butterfly wings in their search for improvements. Using natural butterfly wings as a mold or template, they made copies of the solar collectors and transferred those light-harvesting structures to Grätzel cells. Laboratory tests showed that the butterfly wing solar collector absorbed light more efficiently than conventional dye-sensitized cells. The fabrication process is simpler and faster than other methods, and could be used to manufacture other commercially valuable devices, the researchers say.

Posted February 5th, 2009

Name
Company
Email Address
Phone Number
Country
Inquiry
	If we cannot source a quotation for you for any reason, we will try and source alternative quotations - please uncheck if you do not require this service.