Biological viruses can be used to improve solar cells

The folks over at MIT have discovered a way to increase the efficiency of solar cells, and surprisingly it’s not with the use of technology or a fancy solar cell design. They’ve discovered that by using a genetically modified version of the M13 virus, they can increase the efficiency of a solar cell, and it’s more than just a slight improvement – we’re talking about 33% more efficiency here. What this means is that solar cells won’t have to spend so long out in the sun converting sunlight into useful electricity, and people can spend more time using gadgets instead of charging them.

The drawbacks to using these viruses? They add 0.1% extra weight to finished solar cells. And that’s pretty much about it. How’s that for innovation? Read more at the MIT website.