Everyday material from the kitchen could overhaul solar energy after breakthrough

Solar panels and screens could become vastly more easy to make after a major breakthrough, according to the scientists who found it. The new discovery swaps an everyday material for one almost as rare as gold, the researchers say, and so could drastically cut the price of manufacturing the technology that relies on it. The breakthrough came after scientists discovered that chromium compounds can replace the metals osmium and ruthenium, which are used to harvest energy from the Sun and to create displays for uses such as mobile phones. Chromium is a relatively common material, best known for its use in chromium steel in the kitchen, or for the shiny look of motorcycles. It is also relatively easy to find: chromium is 20,000 times more prevalent in the Earth’s crust than osmium, and much cheaper to make. Scientists hope that it can be used for a variety of purposes, including a kind of artificial photosynthesis that will produce solar fuels. Plants are able to use that process to convert energy from sunlights into energy-rich glucose – and the scientists behind the new study say that it could help us do the same. The findings are described in a new paper, ‘Photoredox-active Cr(0) luminophores featuring photophysical properties competitive with Ru(II) and Os(II) complexes’, published in Nature Chemistry. Read More Astronomer uncovers ‘direct evidence’ of gravity breaking down in the universe Mark Zuckerberg hits out at Elon Musk for wasting time over cage fight Vote to empower autonomous ‘robotaxis’ from Cruise and Waymo divides San Francisco