Big, bright windows and the best bi fold doors Stockport has to offer are the best way to get light into your home, but soon they could also be the best way to power your home too.
According to the Telegraph, ultra-thin, flexible solar panels could soon be available in every home, which could use even dim light to provide electricity for your home at great rates of efficiency.
The product, developed by engineers at the University of Surrey, is a nano-metre thick triumph of natural technology, but its inspiration actually comes from nature. Presented with the challenge of making the material the panels are made from more efficient at absorbing light and heat, the engineers looked to a moth’s eye for the answer. They copied the patterns that moths have on their eyes which filter light into the centre, making them able to see in even the smallest amount of light.
Graphene is a great conductor for use in electrical applications, but with the addition of this newly engineered patterning, it has great potential for further use. Professor Ravi Silva, head of the Advanced Technology Institute, said: “Solar cells coated with this material would be able to harvest very dim light. Installed indoors, as part of future ‘smart wallpaper’ or ‘smart windows’, this material could generate electricity from waste light or heat.”
This evolution in solar panel technology would mean that green energy is no longer an eyesore on houses, hopefully leading to more adoption by a greater number of people, incorporating it into their double glazing.
