Ancient Life Tapped for Solar Technology

By LiveScience Staff

posted: 08 April 2009 02:30 pm ET

An ancient life form has been tapped to create one of the newest technologies for solar energy. The systems that may be surprisingly simple to build compared to existing silicon-based solar cells, researchers said today.

Interestingly, the scientists aren't sure exactly how it works.

Tiny, single-celled marine life forms called diatoms have existed for at least 100 million years and are at the bottom of the food chain, supporting much of the life in the oceans, but they also have rigid shells that can be used to create order in a natural way at the extraordinarily small level of nanotechnology.