A Lesson Learned from Plants . A Lesson Learned from Plants Plants use sunlight to make free electrons and then use these free electrons to produce carbohydrates for food.
Solar cells produce electricity when sunlight strikes silicon coated with various materials.
Excited electrons are carried away by small conductors. Researchers want to use layers of dyes related to chlorophyll to absorb sunlight. Polymers between the layers would be used to conduct the electricity. This coating can be done by a simple dipping technique which eliminates the use of dangerous solvents used in current solar cell applications and will be more environmentally friendly. It is expected that the primary advantage to this process will be the efficiency at which the sunlight is converted to energy.