Usually, solar energy is generated by the light coming from the sun. However, a team of Chinese scientist has tried an unconventional way to harvest solar energy from raindrops.

The team of scientist from the Ocean University of China in Qingdao used a Graphene-coated solar panel to carry out the test. Graphene which consists of a single layer of carbon atoms can produce electricity when exposed to salt water. Using this effect, the scientist were able to successfully carry out the test.

The test panel was able to generate hundreds of microvolts which is quite low in comparison to standard AA battery.

The short comings of this technology are that it converts only 6.5 percent of the energy it gets while conventional solar panels which use sunlight have an efficiency rate of 20%-30%.

“All-weather solar cells are promising in solving the energy crisis,” the team says.

“A flexible solar cell is presented that is triggered by combining an electron-enriched graphene electrode with a dye-sensitised solar cell.

“The new solar cell can be excited by incident light on sunny days and raindrops on rainy days.”