Potential energy: dye-sensitised solar cells

Solar power works; if it didn’t, we’d all be dead. The sun provides the power for every plant on Earth and therefore underpins the food chain. But man’s attempts to copy photosynthesis, the process by which plants harness solar energy, haven’t always been so successful.

Successive generations of solar cells have been developed since the 1950s, with the promise of solar power always seemingly just about to make a breakthrough. Now, silicon-based solar cells compete with a newer generation of plastic photovoltaics, and with interest in renewable power at its highest level for years, solar power may yet make it into the big time.

One of the most interesting entrants into the photovoltaic field, however, is a cell that copies very closely the mechanisms of photosynthesis. Based on cheap materials and manufacturable through simple processes, it is set to make a big impact into the most neglected of global energy markets, the developing world.