A Nepali teenager has designed a ￡23 solar panel using human hair.

    Milan Karki, who is 18 years old and lives in a village in rural Nepal, used human hair to replace silicon, which is a common but expensive component of solar panels.

    By using hair as a replacement, Karki says that solar panels can be produced for around ￡23, a price tag that could be halved if they were mass-produced.

    The solar panel works because melanin, the pigment that gives hair its colour, is light sensitive and can act as an electrical conductor. Karki was inspired to follow this route by a Stephen Hawking book, which explained how to create static energy from hair.

    The device that Karki has demonstrated is capable of producing 9V or 18W of energy – plenty to charge a mobile phone.

    "Half a kilo of hair can be bought for only 16p in Nepal and lasts a few months, whereas a pack of batteries would cost 50p and last a few nights," according to The Daily Mail.

    The solar panel is claimed to be easy to service as the hair is easy to replace.

    Karki has now sent out several devices to other districts near his home for testing. He said: "First I wanted to provide electricity for my home, then my village. Now I am thinking for the whole world."

    一尼泊爾少年設計出一款用人類頭發做成的價值為23英鎊的太陽能電池板。

    米蘭。卡尅，這個生活在尼泊爾偏遠村莊的18歲少年，用人類頭發替代硅片，這是一種普遍但卻昂貴的太陽能電池板材料。

    卡尅說用頭發作為替代品，太陽能電池板的生產價格可以保持在23英鎊左右；如果能夠大批量生產，則其價格可以減半。

    這種太陽能電池板的工作動力是源于黑色素，這種色素可以通過給頭發增色而使其更加敏感，使其起到像點導線一樣的作用。卡尅的這種做法的靈感是來源于史蒂芬。哈肯的書，這本書介紹了如何從頭發中創造穩定的能量。

    在卡尅的這種裝置的說明中，可以了解到其可以產生能夠支持一部手機的9伏或者18瓦的電源。

    根據《每日郵報》報道，在尼泊爾只需花費16便士便可以買到0.5千克的頭發，可以持續用上數月；而買一包電池則須花費50便士，同樣持續數月。

    卡尅現在已經寄出數臺這種裝置到其家鄉的附近地區進行試驗。他說："一開始我只是想讓我們家，我們村可以用上電。而現在我在想讓全世界都可以用上電。"