EVANSTON, Ill., May 5 (UPI) -- That man on the street corner sporting the tin hat and claiming to have conversed with aliens may not be crazy after all; he could have just been demonstrating the sun-absorbing qualities of tinplate, the silvery-white metal element of atomic number 50.
Tinplate, or tin -- as researchers from Northwestern University recently proved -- is cheaper than lead and just as good at absorbing sunlight in solar panel cells. Scientists say it could be the next big thing in photovoltaics.