Could a future flower garden filled with what appear to be roses in fact be a source for solar power, the bright rose petals actually made through use of nanotechnology?

Could be.

Researchers at N.C. State have created flower-like structures from semiconductor material that they believe might be a future source for solar power and energy storage devices. The research is backed by the U.S. Army Research Office.

The scientists relied on germanium sulfied (GeS), a material used in semiconductors, to create what NCSU  described as “flower-like structures” and “nanoflowers.”

“Creating these GeS nanoflowers is exciting because it gives us a huge surface area in a small amount of space,” said Dr. Linyou Cao, an assistant professor of materials science and engineering at NCSU.

“This could significantly increase the capacity of lithium-ion batteries, for instance, since the thinner structure with larger surface area can hold more lithium ions,” he added. “By the same token, this GeS flower structure could lead to increased capacity for supercapacitors, which are also used for energy storage.”

The materials are extremely thin and can be fashioned into large surface areas.

In a research paper, the NCSU scientists said the heated GeS powder until it began to vaporize. The vapor was blown into a cooler area where it the remnants were allowed to settle.

The GeS powder accumulated in very thin, long layers. When more layers of material settled, the result was a floral pattern similar to a marigold or carnation. 

By vaporizing the GeS material over time, the remnants did not settle in “clumps,” Cao said.

According to Cao, the GeS material can absorb solar energy and convert to usable power. The material is also less expensive and non-toxic unlike some materials used in current solar cells.

The paper, “Role of Boundary Layer Diffusion in Vapor Deposition Growth of Chalcogenide Nanosheets: The Case of GeS,” iwas published in the journal ACS Nano.

Cao co-authored the report along with Dr. Chun Li, a former postdoctoral researcher at NCSU who is now a professor at the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China; Liang Huang, a former visiting Ph.D. student at NCSU; Gayatri Pongur Snigdha, a former undergraduate student at NCSU; and Yifei Yu, a Ph.D. student at NCSU.