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.
Scientists have been searching for new materials to improve light-harvesting in so-called dye-sensitized solar cells – also known as Gratzel cells for inventor Michael Gratzel.
These cells have the highest light-conversion efficiencies among all solar cells – as high as 10%.
They have been investigating 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 Gratzel cells.
Laboratory scientific tests have revealed that the butterfly wing solar collector absorbs light more efficiently than conventional dye-sensitised cells.
The fabrication process is simpler and faster than other methods, and could be used to manufacture other commercially valuable devices.