Nanotech has fueled the imaginations of science-fictioners for years, with world-changing and ending inventions in equal measure.

But the real strength of this molecular machinery is how it can upgrade existing concepts, and this time it's solar power's turn.

Considering that the Sun already provides all the Earth's organic energy in one form or another, it seems a shame we can't make the machines use it too.

Step forward Idaho National Laboratories, who were working on nano-enhancing existing technologies

Now they're working on entirely nano-paneling

The new nanonet is flexible and can be printed on many surfaces.  A demonstration was printed on plastic bags

The microscopic structures can pick up the infrared wavelengths that only Predators can even see, absorbing energy at 80% efficiency - four times the efficiency of commercial panels.