Flake power

Danish research has discovered a new material, nano flakes, which could revolutionise solar power, making it far more efficient to generate electricity from solar energy.

Researcher Martin Aagesen is a PhD student from the Nano-Science Center and the Niels Bohr Institute at University of Copenhagen. During his work on his PhD thesis he discovered the novel material.

‘ We believe that the nano flakes have the potential to convert up to 30 per cent of the solar energy into electricity, and that is twice the amount that we convert today,’ said Aagesen.

‘I discovered a perfect crystalline structure. That is a very rare sight. While being a perfect crystalline structure we could see that it also absorbed all light. It could become the perfect solar cell.

‘The potential is unmistakeable. We can reduce the solar cell production costs because we use less of the expensive semiconducting silicium in the process due to the use of nanotechnology. At the same time, the future solar cells will exploit the solar energy better as the distance of energy transportation in the solar cell will be shorter and thus lessen the loss of energy.’