Water-repellant, like a solar cell (Image: Wild Images Ltd./Getty)

SOLAR cells have an unfortunate habit of reflecting back much of the light that hits them, rather than converting it into electricity. A technique that peppers the cells’ surface with nanoscale domes could curb this tendency and improve efficiency by as much as 25 per cent.

Peppering the cell’s surface with nanodomes increases efficiency by as much as 25 per cent

To ramp up the proportion of light solar cells converted into electricity, Yi Cui of Stanford University in California has focused on ensuring that more light gets through the layers …