Bioinspired Materials in Energy Technologies

Nature offers numerous biological compounds and structures having exceptional capabilities of energy absorption. Some of the simple molecular building blocks combined with natural biological materials can form biocomposites with unique hierarchical architectures. These innovative structures result in bioinspired materials with extraordinary properties. Moreover, these materials are further engineered to replicate the structures, processes, and functions observed in biological systems, providing innovative solutions to numerous applications in medicines, drug-delivery, smart technologies, solar cells, aerospace, energy storage, and many more. Nowadays, bioinspired materials have garnered significant attention in energy technologies owing to their potential in improving overall efficiency, sustainability, and functionality. Rapid progress in additive manufacturing technologies is continually enhancing researchers’ abilities, facilitating them in fabricating sophisticated, multiple hierarchical designs using numerous bioinspired materials. Herein this chapter, we mainly focused on outlining the applications of bioinspired materials in energy harvesting from nature in the form of solar cells and its storage in batteries. Herein, we have broadly covered the innovations and researches going on in this most charming field.