Jan 29 2011
A recent research performed by Noboru Yamada, a scientist working at the Nagaoka University of Technology Japan, along with his associates from Tokyo Metropolitan University and Mitsubishi Rayon mimicked the eye ball microstructure of a moth to produce a thin film that can improve the power generation efficiency of the solar PV modules.
The eye balls of a moth are covered with antireflective and water resistant microstructures allowing them to see properly in the night and the antireflective properties of the coating prevented reflection of their eyes and saved them from other predators in the night.
The newly created film found to be suitable for large scale production, covers the solar cells and cuts down the level of reflected light thus assisting the cells in absorbing more level of sun energy. The lab tests and field experiments has proved improvement in the power capturing performance of the solar panels. The team is planning to test the effects of the antireflective moth-eye film over the solar cells utilized in Phoenix Arizona, which receives maximum sun light and in Tokyo, which is away from the region of Sunbelt with a high level of scatted solar radiation. They figure out that it will improve the performance of solar cells up to 6% in Phoenix and 5% in Tokyo.
The scientists are able to solve the problem of formulating a joint less and high output roll-to-roll procedure for nano-imprinting of the film with the assistance of one of the authors of Energy Express paper and his friend at Mitsubishi Rayon. The team is currently working on improving the sturdiness of the film and maximizing its usage for various types of solar cells.
Source: http://voice.nagaokaut.ac.jp/