Paper-thin solar cell can turn any surface into a power source

Over the last decade or so we have made many advancements in solar technology. Recently, MIT researchers have developed paper-thin solar cells that can essentially turn any surface into a source of power. These cells could change the way we look at solar technology.

The Paper-Thin Solar Cells That Can Change Any Surface Into A Power Source

Imagine extraordinarily light fabric solar cells that you can stick on any surface and turn it into a source of energy? Well, that’s just what MIT researchers have developed. The cells themselves are incredibly durable and thinner than a human hair. The researchers have then attached them to a lightweight but also durable fabric so that they can easily be installed onto any surface. (1)

These aren’t just flat surfaces, either. Rather, they can be used as a wearable power fabric for on-the-go energy. They can also quickly and easily be transported to remote locations in emergencies when additional power is needed. Though they are smaller and much, much lighter than a traditional solar panel (about one-hundredth of the weight), they actually provide 18 times more power per kilogram. These small solar cells can also be scaled up for large-scale manufacturing. This is because they are made from semiconducting inks, so scaling them up is just a matter of changing the printing process.

Less Fragile, More Applicable

Traditional solar panels are quite fragile. For this reason, they are packaged the way they are – to protect them from damage. Unfortunately, this really limits their usage. Over the years, groups have tried to devise solutions for this and create thinner, lighter panels that are more flexible and less at risk of breaking. They had one version created; however, they were made using a complicated vacuum-based process which was expensive and hard to scale up.

This is why MIT researchers came up with these flexible, fabric, printable versions. These are not complex or expensive to produce. It also means that they are much easier to mass-produce or at the very least, produce on a much larger scale. To make them, they use nanomaterials in the form of printable electronic inks. Next, they coat the solar cell structure using a slot-die coater, which deposits layers of the electronic materials onto a substrate that is only 3 microns thick. They then use screen printing to deposit the electrode onto the structure.

From there, they peel the printed module off of the plastic substrate. These are extremely thin, however, and difficult to handle. For this reason, they attached the module to a lightweight fabric to provide flexibility and resilience without adding much weight. The fabric that they used is called Dyneema and is incredibly strong.|

“While it might appear simpler to just print the solar cells directly on the fabric, this would limit the selection of possible fabrics or other receiving surfaces to the ones that are chemically and thermally compatible with all the processing steps needed to make the devices. Our approach decouples the solar cell manufacturing from its final integration,” explained the paper´s co-athor Mayuran Saravanapavanantham. (2)

Potential Applications

Being so thin and lightweight, these solar cells can be applied in many different situations, including those where traditional panels just won’t work. They can be added to tarps and tents used in disaster recovery situations and on sails of boats for a back-up power source should there be no wind. They’re also easily installed on the wings of drones to increase the range in which they can fly. The possibilities are truthfully quite endless.

“We are working to remove as much of the non-solar-active material as possible while still retaining the form factor and performance of these ultralight and flexible solar structures,” said co-author Jeremiah Mwaura.

The researchers say that in applications such as rooftops, they would need to add a further protective material in order to protect the solar cells from the elements. They want to avoid the traditional glass, as that limits the cells’ capabilities and applications. They are currently working on these ultrathin packaging solutions.

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