Nepalese teenager replaces silicon with human hair for cheap solar energy

Solar panel made using human hair costs 75% less than conventional solar cells.

Milan Karki, born in one of the poorest countries in the world - Nepal, has tried to end energy crisis in the country and the world with a solar panel that is about 75% cheaper than industrial made solar panels of comparable capacity.

The secret to this low-cost solar panel is not as hi-tech as one would imagine as all the teenage inventor did was to replace the expensive silicon normally used in solar cells with a comparably cheaper product – human hair. The young inventor says that human hair due to the presence of Melanin is sensitive to light and also acts as a type of conductor.

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The panel produced using this technique costs around £23 and produces 18W of power at 9V.The inventor believes that if the product is mass produced, the panel could be made available in developing countries at half that price, which would make it four times cheaper than other panels available on the market today.