Could flower power save the world?

In a major breakthrough, experts have managed to harvest the sun’s rays to mimic photosynthesis in plants – the process they use to convert light energy into chemical energy.

By borrowing techniques from nature the team, based at the University of Southampton’s School of Physics and Astronomy, has created a device that can now absorb light and efficiently convert it to an electric current by forcing it between tiny nanocrystals.

Professor Pavlos Lagoudakis said the inner working of flowers has inspired a new generation of green and renewable solar energy cells.

He added: “This is a real breakthrough. Of course we are a long way from solving the world’s energy problems and much more development is needed but this is definitely a big step in the right direction.”

When the team started looking at the way plants work they had no idea it would lead to an energy breakthrough and the initial studies were borne out of curiosity.

He went on to say that just an hour of the sun’s power could supply the world with energy for a year.

Professor Lagoudakis said: “These are early days but the possibilities for environmentally-friendly energy production are very exciting.”

With a name that hardly rolls off the tongue, the paper is entitled Photocurrent Enhancement in Hybrid Nanocrystal Quantum-dotp- i-n Photovoltaic Devices.

Professor Lagoudakis has been working on the project for three years and has been collaborating with experts from Nottingham and Chicago.

The next stage of development will be using this process to make light emitting diodes, such as those used in mobile phones, brighter.

The team is also working to further improve the efficiency of the process.

Prof Lagoudakis said: “We pulled together things other scientists had done and our discovery has been received very well by the scientific community but it is too early to say what additional research will be inspired by our work.

“It is an exciting time to work in this area of science.”