'Moth Eye' Graphene Breakthrough Could Create Indoor Solar Cells (newsweek.com)

A scientific breakthrough with the "wonder material" graphene has opened up the possibility of indoor solar cells that capture energy from indirect sunlight, as well as ambient energy from household devices. Researchers from the University of Surrey in the U.K. studied the eyes of moths to create sheets of graphene that they claim is the most light-absorbent material ever created. "We realized that the moth's eye works in a particular way that traps electromagnetic waves very efficiently," Professor Ravi Silva, head of the Advanced Technology Institute at the University of Surrey, tells Newsweek. "As a result of our studies, we've been able to mimic the surface of a moth's eye and create an amazingly thin, efficient, light-absorbent material made of graphene."

Comments

Show me a product

[justcauseisjustthat]

I really do love having access to science by press release/news article, but we see hundreds if not thousands of them with no followup.
It's almost like hey, I did this, where's my grant.. Two years later we only hear the chirp of crickets.

Yes, I realize that science moves, yes, I realize that somethings don't pan out. But it seems like almost all don't work out?

Re:Show me a product

[cas2000]

those who do not understand the concept that publicly funded research at universities should belong to the public are propertarian nutcases.

the researcher was paid a wage and a research grant to do this work. If it was a business paying their wage and paying for the research, you'd be arguing that the business owns their research....but it's the public, via the govt, that funded the research so the public should own it.

BTW, property is not the only incentive or motivation available to human beings. amonst many other motivations, there is also job satisfaction, and even (in rare cases) the good feelings that come from contributing something worthwhile that will benefit humanity as a whole, rather than just benefitting some rich cunts who want to tie up the research in a patent so they can own it exclusively.

frizzy pots

[Hognoxious]

Unless Elon Musk is making them with a 3D printer I'm not interested.

I don't think I'd want this in my house.

[Nutria]

Light colored walls play a crucial role diffusing light into other parts of the room. Having these panels on the walls would darken them, requiring more electric lights, and making the room seem smaller.

Anyway, thumbs up on the basic research on moth eyes.

Re:I don't think I'd want this in my house.

[NormalVisual]

On the flip side, it sounds like it'd make a great coating for window blinds or drapes.

How does it stack up

[l0n3s0m3phr34k]

Against "regular" solar panels? If it's that much more efficient, I would think having them outdoors would be more useful than indoors. TFA shows them as very flexible too, so one might even just be able to slap them on top of already existing solar panels, or even underneath them...to take advantage of the preexisting power storage systems.

Re:How does it stack up

[petes_PoV]

How does it stack up against "regular" solar panels?

It doesn't. This is simply the air - material interface that has been shown to be particularly lossless. While that is necessary for higher efficiency solar panels, it's not sufficient. It still needs the panels themselves. The developers still need to make these things cheaply enough. The lifetime of these devices needs to be long enough.

There is a great deal of work that needs to be done before there is anything usable, let alone commercially viable. Let's come back in 5 years and see what progress has been made.

New article lacks details

[MrL0G1C]

This isn't the first time us Brits have come up with solar for cloudy days. See:
British scientists develop solar panels which work better on a cloudy day [March 2014]
Both articles lack details about the efficiency in diffused light conditions.

Researchers from the University of Surrey in the U.K. studied the eyes of moths to create sheets of graphene that they claim is the most light-absorbent material ever created.

I doubt this very much, the best solar collectors will collect 46% of light, but of course they don't come cheap, current cheap cells are the ones collecting up to 15 to 22% of light.

Cell Efficiency Chart (jpg)If the researchers had created solar collectors with more than 46% efficiency then they would say what the efficiency is and have it verified and it would be big news.

Re:New article lacks details

[Anonymous Coward]

Abstract from http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/2/2/e1501238

The ability to engineer a thin two-dimensional surface for light trapping across an ultra-broad spectral range is central for an increasing number of applications including energy, optoelectronics, and spectroscopy. Although broadband light trapping has been obtained in tall structures of carbon nanotubes with millimeter-tall dimensions, obtaining such broadband light–trapping behavior from nanometer-scale absorbers remains elusive. We report a method for trapping the optical field coincident with few-layer decoupled graphene using field localization within a disordered distribution of subwavelength-sized nanotexturing metal particles. We show that the combination of the broadband light–coupling effect from the disordered nanotexture combined with the natural thinness and remarkably high and wavelength-independent absorption of graphene results in an ultrathin (15 nm thin) yet ultra-broadband blackbody absorber, featuring 99% absorption spanning from the mid-infrared to the ultraviolet. We demonstrate the utility of our approach to produce the blackbody absorber on delicate opto-microelectromechanical infrared emitters, using a low-temperature, noncontact fabrication method, which is also large-area compatible. This development may pave a way to new fabrication methodologies for optical devices requiring light management at the nanoscale.

Graphene!

[ickleberry]

When you see the word Graphene mentioned you can be sure it's perpetually another 10 years from production. When you see any mention of improved solar panels you can be sure its perpetually another 10 years from production.

We'll have had 99 years of Linux on the Desktop by the time you can buy these

Re:Do they work with the curtains shut

[msauve]

"Why would sensors and IoT devices use more power than a calculator of old?"

Because they need enough power to transmit a radio signal.

Re:Do they work with the curtains shut

[soksabay9499]

the curtains could be the solar cell. perhaps or make the curtain a set of window blinds which can be a bit more rigid

Re:Do they work with the curtains shut

[vtcodger]

There are hundreds of miles of limestone caves in Kentucky. We can line the walls of those caverns with these cells and produce more power than Niagara Falls. Kentucky can be the Saudi Arabia of green electric power. Electricity too cheap to meter ... Wazzat? They need SOME light? ... DRAT. ... Cancel the IPO.

Re:Do they work with the curtains shut

[HornWumpus]

Simple solution, just put in some lights.