Question: What will be different about these new solar panels ?

Niamh Ryall answered on 10 Jun 2017:

Hi Ruby the awsomest (nice name)

One thing we’re trying to do is make them really really cheap. So if you’re already covering a roof in some kind of steel (like warehouses, those big blue Ikea stores etc) or houses in poorer countries, it wouldn’t cost much more to make the roof a giant solar panel. If its less efficient but in a really sunny country, it might still produce enough power.

There’s loads of good solar panels out there for making electricity, so a different kind of solar panel could work to turn water into hydrogen gas. I’m hoping my new panels can do that. The hydrogen could then be made into fuels for running engines. Creating a fuel you can carry around with you (like petrol and diesel) is a big challenge in science and engineering. If we can help control the amount of fossil fuels being burnt then we might be able to prevent some carbon dioxide getting into the environment and causing global warming. Another advantage would be that new fuels might produce less pollution.