Researchers at MIT have discovered a way to mimic plants' ability to repair the chemical devices that convert sunlight to energy. Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering Michael Strano and his team have created a solar photovoltaic (PV) system composed of organic structures that can self-assemble and convert sunlight to electricity at 40% efficiency, with no loss of efficiency recorded over time due to the self-repairing mechanisms of the proteins used. This research was first published in the journal "Nature Chemistry" on September 5th, 2010. "We’re basically imitating tricks that nature has discovered over millions of years... reversibility, the ability to break apart and reassemble", said MIT Associate Professor Michael Strano. "I was really impressed by how plant cells have this extremely efficient repair mechanism... a leaf on a tree is recycling its proteins about every 45 minutes (in full sunlight), even though you might think of it as a static photocell." 

System composed of seven organic components

The system created by the MIT Team uses seven different components, including the proteins, which convert the sunlight to electricity and perform the self-repair and disc-like molecular structures called phospholipids which hold the proteins. The phospholipids attach themselves to carbon nano-tubes, which are sub-microscopic tubes of carbon that also carry the charge produced by the proteins. When a dispersant is added, similar to the dispersants used on oil spills, the system dissolves, and when the dispersant is removed in a very fine filter, the system re-assembles.

The individual systems created by the MIT team are highly efficient, with over 40% raw efficiency, however the team notes that the systems are less efficient in terms of area, as they tend to be thinly distributed on a surface. The researchers are currently working on a way to concentrate the systems.

Postdoctoral researcher Moon-Ho Ham and graduate student Ardemis Boghossian assisted in this research, which was supported by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Energy Initiative and Eni SpA (Rome, Italy).

2010-09-08| Courtesy: MIT | solarserver.com © Heindl Server GmbH

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