Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences

Place this thin layer of plastic in the sun and it begins to oscillate irregularly all by itself. Today researchers from Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) and the Humboldt University in Berlin present this material the first that, moves spontaneously under the influence of daylight–in the journal Nature Communications. According to the researchers, this pliable plastic is suitable as a self-cleaning surface, for example for solar cells.

Materials that move all by themselves under the influence of light – this phenomenon has been known for a number of years.

However, since the source tends to be ultraviolet light, the required intensity can damage the material. The challenge was to find a material that behaves in this way in visible light, preferably unprocessed sunlight. The researchers from Eindhoven and Berlin have now succeeded in producing a thin polymer layer containing light-sensitive molecules (azo-dyes). Lying in sunlight, the thin film begins to oscillate spontaneously and irregularly.

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