Researchers from two Chinese universities have developed a solar cell that can produce electricity from light and water, enabling a solar panel that works in the sun or rain.

The scientists from Ocean University of China in Qingdao and Yunnan Normal University in Kunming developed a highly efficient and flexible dye-sensitized solar cell and then coated that cell with a one atom-thick layer of electron-enriched graphene.

The new all-weather solar cells can be excited by light on sunny days and raindrops on rainy days, yielding an optimal “solar-to-electric conversion efficiency of 6.53% under sunlight as well as a voltage of hundreds of microvolts by simulated raindrops.

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