Hybrid solar power material is created

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Oct. 21 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists say they've created a material that overcomes a major obstacle in solar power generation: it absorbs all the energy contained in sunlight.

Ohio State University researchers said the new material, which also generates electrons in a way that makes them easier to capture, combines electrically conductive plastic with metals, including molybdenum and titanium.

"There are other such hybrids out there but the advantage of our material is that we can cover the entire range of the solar spectrum," said Professor Malcolm Chisholm, chairman of the Ohio State department of chemistry.

Researchers said sunlight contains the entire spectrum of colors that can be seen with the naked eye. What our eyes interpret as color are really different energy levels, or frequencies of light. Today's solar cell materials can only capture a small range of frequencies, so they can only capture a small fraction of the energy contained in sunlight.

The new material, said the scientists, is the first that can absorb all the energy contained in visible light at once.

The study's findings are reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.