Solar panels are about 70 years old, and while incredible strides have been made in improving their cost and efficiency, nature has been figuring out innovative ways to capture light for hundreds of millions.
Today’s start-up, Tri-Nano, takes inspiration from nature to develop an ultra-modern, ultra-thin (400 nanometers, or 0.0004 millimeters) coating that improves solar module performance. The coating has three features:
-Light-trapping (inspired by “superblack” bird of paradise feathers)
-Anti-reflection (inspired by moth eyes)
-Self-cleaning (inspired by the lotus leaf)
What I love about this technology is that it is a true deeptech innovation but is broadly applicable. The coating can be applied to any of the myriad existing solar cell/module technologies, or even existing installations. To be honest, whenever I see solar panels I have always thought there seems to be a lot of reflection-surely more of that light can be captured, and it is great to see experts like Tri-Nano cracking this “free” energy.
While the coating is of course not free, it has an ROI of less than 2 years and has 5+ years of experience. The cost is a relatively small proportion of the overall solar module cost and should continue to come down as Tri-Nano scales. The reduction in temperature due to the coating should not just improve performance, but also reduce degradation, making solar panels last longer and ultimately reducing the amount of waste generated. Furthermore, reducing cleaning requirements can save water required for cleaning, so the coating further improves the environmental performance of solar modules.
Tri-nano is a great example of how many incremental innovations can add up to make the business case for clean technologies stronger and stronger. I applaud Dr. Harsh Sethi and his team for this innovation and hope to see many more nature-inspired solutions across the ClimateTech world.