Solar developers may want to start installing schemes in and around music festivals and sell-out gig venues after researchers found a link between pop music and solar photovoltaic panels.
According to researchers at London’s Queen Mary University Imperial College, the high frequencies and pitch of pop and rock music cause solar-enhancing vibrations, boosting the output of solar schemes.
The researchers say solar cells containing a cluster of nanorods – billions of tiny rods made from zinc oxide – become 40% more efficient around the sounds of pop and rock music.
The nanorods were grown by the researchers and covered with an active polymer to form a device that converts sunshine into electricity.
The research team were then able to use the nanorods to show that sound levels as low as 75 decibels – that’s the equivalent of the sound from an office printer or roadside noise – could significantly boost solar performance.
“After investigating systems for converting vibrations into electricity this is a really exciting development that shows a similar set of physical properties can also enhance the performance of a photovoltaic,” said Dr Steve Dunn from Queen Mary’s school of engineering and materials science.
And according to Imperial College’s professor of photochemistry James Durrant, solar schemes much prefer pop music to classical overtures.
“We tried playing music instead of dull flat sounds, as this helped us explore the effect of different pitches,” Durrant said.
“The biggest difference we found was when we played pop music rather than classical, which we now realise is because our acoustic solar cells respond best to the higher pitched sounds present in pop music.”
Researchers say the discovery could result in solar being used to power devices exposed to acoustic vibrations, such as air conditioning units or within cars and other vehicles.