A new day for solar panels
Solar panels have traditionally used pure silicon to convert light into electricity. A recent innovation uses crystals made of bromine or iodine. When the liquid dries, crystals called perovskites form. The crystals line up in a way that makes them work well as semiconductors — materials that sometimes conduct electricity. They’re much easier and quicker to make than the crystals in panels of silicon-based solar cells.
The crystal laced ink can be printed or painted onto anything leading to more efficient solar cells—something as flexible as a magazine page or a structural surface, turning the sun-facing wall of a building into a massive solar panel.
https://www.snexplores.org/article/future-of-crystal-based-solar-energy-just-got-brighter