Recyclable organic solar cells: a clean fuel future made possible by trees

You don't have to know Shel Silverstein to know that trees are exceptionally giving. They're responsible for our homes, paper, air, furniture and, now, energy -- the "clean" kind, that is. Researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology and Purdue University have jointly devised a patent-pending method to build organic solar cells using plant-derived substrates. Known as cellulose nanocrystal substrates (or CNC), these solar cells benefit from being truly disposable, eliminating the waste t...