From caterpillar to butterfly to solar cells?

Biomimicry is a relatively new science that studies nature, its models, systems, processes and elements and then imitates or takes creative inspiration from them to solve human problems of sustainably - see more examples at Nature-Inspired Innovations slideshow.

A perfect example of biomimicry can be found in a recent article shared in Chemistry of Materials. The research, conducted by scientists from China and Japan, uses butterflies - or rather their wings, which have scales that act as tiny solar collectors - as inspiration for improvement on solar cells that could be used for powering homes, businesses, and other applications in the future.

In short, the scientists found a possible method for producing dye-sensitized solar cells more efficiently and at less cost. These cells are a relatively new type of thin-film solar cells.