After decades of experimentation, consumer electronics companies are rolling out solar power technology that mimics the photosynthesis of plants. This allows devices to be charged indoors and, in some cases, eliminates the need for batteries altogether.
This new light-harvesting technology is fundamentally different from the crystalline silicon-based panels installed on rooftops and solar power plants, and from the amorphous silicon cells found in once-popular solar power calculators. . This new technology is based on principles first studied by chemists in the 1960s and transformed into practical solar cells in the 1980s. It has taken some time for versions of these cells strong enough for consumer applications to be manufactured at the scale necessary for mainstream adoption.
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