A solar cell that resembles a flower is offering a new take on green energy in Japan, where one scientist is searching for renewables that look good.
In a country badly scarred by the tsunami-sparked nuclear disaster at Fukushima three years ago, the hydrangea-inspired solar offering is small beer alongside one of the world’s biggest offshore wind power farms now floating off the country’s east coast.
But Hiroshi Segawa, a professor at University of Tokyo’s Research Centre for Advanced Science and Technology, is hoping his dye-sensitised solar cell, which meshes floral beauty with cutting-edge technology, will brighten the scene.
Segawa’s Annabelle, named after a type of white hydrangea, is made up of flowery stained glass-like solar cells built into a latticed wood box modelled on traditional Japanese doors.
While the 20 centimetre wide box might make a pretty addition to a sunroom, it can also store enough energy to charge your smartphone twice.
The leaves generate electricity, which is stored in the flower. As the device charges up the petals turn increasingly blue. But as Annabelle discharges, those blue petals turn white, just like the real-life hydrangea.