Solar power is one of the best tools in humanity’s decarbonization toolbox, but even these green energy technologies aren’t 100 percent sustainable. For example, solar cells only convert light in the visible and near-infrared part of the spectrum, and actually require UV filters (light below the 400 nanometers) to protect critical components like passivation layers and the underlying silicon.
Typically, commercial solar panels rely on petroleum-based filters made from polyvinyl fluoride (PVF) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) to do this job. … In a recent study—carried out by scientists at University of Turku and Aalto University in Finland and Wageningen University in the Netherlands—found that an unlikely ally could aid us in our quest for a more biodegradable solar sensor.
In the study, published in the journal ACS Applied Optical Materials, scientists developed UV protection film using nanocellulose—a natural material typically harvested from bacteria or plants that just so happens to be the most abundant organic polymer on Earth.
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[R]ed onion extract out performed them all, providing 99.9 percent UV protection. It even outperformed commercial PET filters.
