The solar panels experimented with and built to bring out the maximum output, have only been able to reach 44%. While, manmade efficiency is only good up to this much, scientists have started involving plants in this quest for unprecedented efficiency.

Quantum mechanics is a bit questionable at times and this is often referred to as quantum weirdness. Plants use this very weirdness to create maximum energy for themselves, without losing any. An exciton is a particle ejected from plant chromophore (light sensing pigment) when a photon hits this pigment. Eventually the exciton makes its way to the part of a cell where it’s absorbed and be put to use in the body.

So now the researchers at MIT are conducting studies to test the relationship between increased energy output and plant chromophore by genetically modifying the virus DNA. The DNA is modified such that they would bind with groups of synthetic chromophores, and light up when they did, so the researchers could monitor them using laser spectroscopy. The study tests various types of viruses in varying concentrations of chromophore. The definite relationship can be observed between viruses and the pigment.

The right combination for maximum output is yet to be found, but researchers have been able to make the excitons travel at double the speed of those in existing solar cells, and to do so at much longer distances.

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Author:Technology Blog