Solar power on track to be world's largest electricity source by 2050

"It should absorb virtually all wavelengths of light that reach Earth's surface from the sun, but not much of the rest of the spectrum, since that would increase the energy that is reradiated by the material, and thus lost to the conversion process," an MIT press release stated.

The material is a two-dimensional metallic dielectric photonic crystal and has the additional benefits of absorbing sunlight from a wide range of angles and withstanding extremely high temperatures - up to 1,000 degrees Celsius.

The new material first converts the sun's energy into heat, which then causes the material to glow, emitting light that can, in turn, be converted to an electric current.

Perhaps most importantly to the cost of a solar energy system is that the material can also be made cheaply at large scales, MIT stated. Since the material can absorb sunlight efficiently from a wide range of angles, "we don't really need solar trackers," said Jeffrey Chou, one of nine researchers who created the material.

Solar trackers are what move solar panels installed in a large field in the direction of the sun to maximize power production.