Sweet coating makes solar panels 30% more efficient

A new coating material, developed at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, allows solar panels that the coating is applied to absorb nearly all available light, and as a result makes them 30% more efficient. Treated panels can soak up a whopping 96.2% of available sunlight.

One of the problems the coating solves is that current solar panels cannot absorb all frequencies of the light spectrum. The bluish color of current solar panels indicates that they are not absorbing much of the blue spectrum of visible light. The coating developed at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute solves that problem, making treated panels appear more black than blue.

Another problem the coating solves is the necessity of having to rotate solar panels in order to catch the best angle for light absorption. Now solar panels can remain in one position and will absorb light equally from any angle.

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