WE OUGHT to take a leaf out of their book. Trees are basically clad in solar cells, and soon we could be doing the same using energy-harvesting fabrics.
Qingwen Li from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Suzhou and colleagues wanted to exploit a new type of solar cell made of a mineral called perovskite. Flat versions of these cells are able to convert 20 per cent of the energy in sunlight into electricity. They can also be made 400 times thinner than conventional silicon cells – so thin that they are bendy.
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