It has been proven that there are some solar cells which are able to convert sunlight into electricity more efficiently when loud music is being played as long as it is pop or rock. Although solar cells are traditionally made of silicon they can easily convert sunlight into electricity. Steve Dunn from Queen Mary University, London and James Durrant who is studying at Imperial College, London have began experimenting a cheaper option “zinc oxide” which can be made into flexible and thin films. However there is a down side to their cheaper option as it has only a fraction of the efficiency compared to the silicon cells.

In order to help improve this problem, they have been trying to take the advantage of the properties of which zinc oxide has. Vibrations which are produced from the music through music speakers create a mechanical stress moving the nano scale rods which cause the generation of an electric field.

Rock and Pop were the best out of the 3 music genres they tested due to the wider range of frequencies when compared to that of classical music. Basically through this experiment it shows that zinc oxide solar arrays can be developed and deployed next to busy roads or in busy cities.

Dunn mentions that there are plenty of places in which this product will be suitable for use such as on top of air-conditioning units, military vehicles and even airports and factories where noise is loud and continuous. The majority of solar cells on the market however won’t benefit from this discovery, however it must be noted it will be possible to further re-design and develop the possibility of new cells to take advantage of what the experiment found so that it can be used in domestic homes to power lighting and heating wherever possible.