Inspired by the movement of sunflowers, team including UCLA scientists develop new technology optimize the energy absorption of solar panels

A Science Times article highlighted the development of an artificial material that mimics the circadian rhythm of the sunflower created by scientists from UCLA and Arizona State University. Currently, solar panels are installed with solar cells fixed in one position. The new sunflower-like biomimetic omnidirectional tracker, known as SunBOT, regulates its own movements to face the sun at an optimal position to absorb light from the sun more efficiently. 

Researchers said they hope to use this technology to optimize the absorption capabilities of solar panels and potentially incorporate their development into more applications, such as desalination systems and the improvement of robot mobility. 

Read more at Science Times. An article about the technology was published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.

The research team included:

Yousif Alsaid, UCLA Samueli School of Engineering
Jinsong Cu, UCLA Samueli School of Engineering
Tiphaine Galy, UCLA Samueli School of Engineering
Hamsini Gopalakrishna, Arizona State University School for Engineering of Matter, Transport, and Energy
Ximin He, UCLA Samueli School of Engineering
Mutian Hua, UCLA Samueli School of Engineering
Hanqing Jiang, Arizona State University School for Engineering of Matter, Transport, and Energy
Ning Liu, UCLA Samueli School of Engineering
Michael Marszewski, UCLA Samueli School of Engineering
Laurent Pilon, UCLA Samueli School of Engineering
Xioashi Qian, UCLA Samueli School of Engineering
Xu Wang, Arizona State University School for Engineering of Matter, Transport, and Energy
Yunyun Yang, UCLA Samueli School of Engineering
Yusen Zhao, UCLA Samueli School of Engineering