Butterfly wings inspire invention that opens door to new solar technologies

There's a whole bunch of potential new applications using our light-control technique, including next-generation solar cell, architectural and stealth technologies. Engineers have invented tiny structures inspired by butterfly wings that open the door to new solar cell technologies and other applications requiring precise manipulation of light. The inspiration comes from the blue Morpho Didius butterfly, which has wings with tiny cone-shaped nanostructures that scatter light to create a striking blue iridescence, and could lead to other innovations such as stealth and architectural applications. Lead researcher Dr Niraj Lal from the ANU Research School of Engineering said the team made similar structures at the nanoscale and applied the same principles in the butterfly wing phenomenon to finely control the direction of light in experiments. "There's a whole bunch of potential new applications using our light-control technique, including next-generation solar cell, architectural and stealth technologies," said Dr Lal from the ANU Research School of Engineering. He said scientists can greatly improve the efficiency of solar cells with effective light management. "Techniques to finely control the scattering, reflection and absorption of different colours of light are being used in the next generation of very high-efficiency solar panels," he said.