Harnessing Plant Molecules To Improve the Efficiency of Solar Panels
Sakshi Education
Our current solar panels aren’t very efficient; they are only able to convert up to about 20 percent of the sun’s energy into electricity.
Harnessing the power of solar panels
As a result, to generate a lot of electricity, the panels require a lot of space—sometimes leading forests to being cut down or farms to being replaced by solar. If solar panels were more efficient, much smaller panels could make the same amount of electricity, and wouldn’t claim as much land.
To make solar panels that are more efficient, Lahari Saha, in the lab of Professor Chris D. Geddes at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, is working to make electricity in a unique way—by harnessing plants’ abilities to convert sunlight into chemical energy using biological molecules, like chlorophyll, that excel at absorbing sunlight. Saha will present her work on Wednesday, February 22 at the 67th Annual Biophysical Society Meeting in San Diego, California.
