Solar powered by Crudo BioMelanin
Crudo Labs is exploring bio-based solar powered by its proprietary BioMelanin. Melanin absorbs a broad band of light and conducts charge in certain states — the two behaviors a material needs to turn sunlight into electricity — and Crudo is pursuing that rare combination as the foundation of a next-generation photovoltaics program.
Light in, charge out
Photovoltaics need two things from a material: it has to absorb light, and it has to move the charge that light creates. Melanin does both. It is a broad-spectrum light absorber, and in certain states it behaves as a semiconductor. That combination is rare in a single, naturally derived molecule, and it is why melanin is studied as a building block for bio-based solar cells.
Where it could go
Bio-based and flexible photovoltaics
Cell designs seeking naturally derived, lower-impact materials.
Light-harvesting layers
Active layers in next-generation cell architectures.
Research collaborations
Joint work advancing organic and bio-hybrid solar.
A foothold in the energy transition
The shift to clean energy is one of the largest material opportunities of the century, and bio-based materials are a growing part of it. BioMelanin gives Crudo Labs a foothold there with a naturally derived, scalable platform for next-generation photovoltaics — the same proprietary technology that powers its coatings, optics, and skincare programs. See the science.
Questions about solar
- Can melanin be used in solar panels?
- Melanin absorbs a broad band of light and conducts charge in certain states, the two properties a photovoltaic material needs. That makes it a candidate material for next-generation, bio-based solar, an active area of research rather than a finished product.
- What is bio-photovoltaics?
- Bio-photovoltaics use biologically derived materials, such as bio-melanin, to convert light into electricity. Crudo Labs explores melanin's light-absorbing and semiconducting behavior as a building block for these cells.