{"id":25261,"date":"2025-10-03T13:12:48","date_gmt":"2025-10-03T18:12:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/?p=25261"},"modified":"2025-10-06T13:18:20","modified_gmt":"2025-10-06T18:18:20","slug":"researchers-new-coating-turns-metals-into-solar-panels-potentially-cutting-costs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/engineering\/researchers-new-coating-turns-metals-into-solar-panels-potentially-cutting-costs\/","title":{"rendered":"Researchers’ new coating turns metals into solar panels, potentially cutting costs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What if you could turn common metals, like steel or copper, into mini-solar panels by applying a coating? Professors Nikolai Kouklin, computer science, and Konstantin Sobolev, civil & environmental engineering, stumbled onto a way to do just that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The coating they developed with Yuting Spiegelhoff, a doctoral student in electrical engineering, is easier to use and cheaper than materials used in traditional solar panels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The discovery came about by accident. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The research team was originally testing hopeite, a zinc-based mineral used for corrosion protection, when they found it had a photovoltaic effect\u2014producing electricity from light, especially when a particular plant dye was used.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Two
A voltage is applied to a sample of a new metal coating to measure its electric capacity under a light source.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

“We didn’t know that the zinc-phosphate would have this photovoltaic effect,” Kouklin said.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The researchers found that layers of hopeite reacts quickly to changing light conditions. Unlike traditional solar cells, it doesn\u2019t require semiconductors or an external power source.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That simplicity matters. Traditional solar cells need semiconductors to convert sunlight into an electrical current. Manufacturing those semiconductors is costly, resource-intensive, and requires ultra-pure water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The team has filed for a patent through the 51ÁÔÆæ Research Foundation<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The effect of blackberry juice<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The coating’s effect is amplified when the coating is combined with anthocyanin, a natural dye found in blackberries. The pigment alters how the mineral interacts with light, boosting voltage output.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This opens the door to affordable and widely deployable solar cells,” Kouklin said. “Just think \u2013 embedded energy generation on metal roofs, infrastructure, or industrial surfaces.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Research Foundation helped kickstart this project with early-stage Catalyst Grant<\/a> funding that allowed the team to demonstrate key properties and build a prototype. See the publication in Applied Physics Letters<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What if you could turn common metals, like steel or copper, into mini-solar panels by applying a coating? Professors Nikolai Kouklin, computer science, and Konstantin Sobolev, civil & environmental engineering, stumbled onto a way to do just that. 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