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CoolHand writes:

One longstanding knock on the usage and implementation of solar power is its binary nature of always being on or off. To make practical use of it in non-peak times, some sort of storage system for the energy would have to implemented also. Well, this nut may have finally been cracked. According to UCLA, their chemists at the university have developed cells that can store energy for weeks.

The two components that make the UCLA-developed system work are a polymer donor and a nano-scale fullerene acceptor. The polymer donor absorbs sunlight and passes electrons to the fullerene acceptor; the process generates electrical energy. The plastic materials, called organic photovoltaics, are typically organized like a plate of cooked pasta — a disorganized mass of long, skinny polymer "spaghetti" with random fullerene "meatballs." But this arrangement makes it difficult to get current out of the cell because the electrons sometimes hop back to the polymer spaghetti and are lost.

The have obviously been touched by the FSM's noodly appendage. Ramen..

They also claim that the materials in the new system self-assemble and are environmentally friendly because they do so in water instead of more toxic solutions commonly used. Abstract of original paper at Science.