Solar energy is one of the most promising solutions to the world’s growing energy needs. It is clean, renewable, and widely available. But it comes with one major limitation: solar panels only work when the sun is shining. As soon as night falls, power generation stops. This creates a big challenge—how do we store solar energy efficiently for later use? Scientists have been working on this problem for years. Now, a team of researchers from China has introduced an exciting new solution: engineered wood that can capture solar energy during the day and release it—even generate electricity—after sunset . Their findings, published in the journal Advanced Energy Materials , could change how we think about renewable energy systems. The Problem with Solar Energy Storage Traditional solar panels are very good at converting sunlight into electricity. However, they are not designed to store energy. To use solar power at night, we rely on batteries or other storage systems, which can be expensive...