Scientists from the University of Tor Vergata, located in Rome, announced that they developed a new type of solar panel made with the pigment of blueberries. The panel, as opposed to traditional ones, eliminated completely the use of silicon. The result is a much cheaper product and more efficient to a certain extent because the panels are more flexible and in the near future they could even become transparent sheets.

The technology is based on the idea that organic semiconductors could reduce drastically the cost of production of the solar panels, which is one of the main drawbacks of this alternative energy source. It is estimated that the standard solar panels manufactured with silicon have an efficiency rate of 15%, meaning that the electric energy produced is 15% of the solar energy captured. The solar panels using only organic materials, like the pigments of blueberries, are achieving an efficiency of 4% in the laboratories, but the hybrid panels created with a mixture of organic and inorganic material are already presenting efficiency rates of 10% or more, close to what current commercial panels offer, writes the Italian newspaper La Republica.