Cheap Solar Cells Made From Shrimp Cells

Technology





Photo credit:

Queen Mary University of London

Compounds found in the shells of shrimp and other tasty crustaceans have been used to generate electricity in solar cells for the first time. 

Crustacean exoskeletons get their structure from a sugary compound called chitin. Chitin and its derivative, chitosan, are much cheaper and more abundant than expensive metals like ruthenium (similar to platinum) that are used to make nanostructured solar cells now.