Took the weans a walk away up the back of The Three Towns in Ayrshire where they are installing these big bad boys.
Helps them chop up birds better
As others have said, mostly about noise reduction. There’s actually work looking whether the same concept could be developed for electric aircraft.
They disrupt the trailing edge eddies - which is what causes any noise - and so make them quieter. They are often fitted in areas where sound might be a particular issue.
Trailing edge you say? So not designed to mince up birds, that’s a relief.
Oh they’ll still mince birds, just with the blunt side
Most of the bird deaths are not actually physical strikes - it is a result of the massive change of air pressure as the blades pass at speed. Evidently painting one of the blades black - or some contrasting colour - keeps a lot of the birds well away.
So why don’t my CPU/case fans have serrated edges as well? Because they are too small?
Some do, e.g. Noctua: https://noctua.at/en/vortex-control-notches