Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have successfully discovered a method to building a solar cell that is so thin and light that it could be embedded in a soap bubble or get blown away by the wind.
The key to the new solar technology rests on the materials used and their fabrication. The conventional photovoltaic cell is composed of glass or plastic components layered into a substrate. The method has been replaced with a new process that involves the manufacture of all layers and the substrate simultaneously. This makes it possible to achieve the output's unprecedented thinness and flexibility.
"The innovative step is the realization that you can grow the substrate at the same time as you grow the device," Vladimir Bulović, associate dean at MIT, said in an official news release. The process also eliminates the accumulation of contaminants such as dust, which could adversely affect performance.
"It could be so light that you don't even know it's there, on your shirt or on your notebook," Bulović said. "These cells could simply be an add-on to existing structures."
The MIT team behind the new solar technology has already built a proof of concept, which demonstrated that, while the prototype is not particularly efficient presently, the power to weight ratio is still among the highest developed so far.
The MIT discovery has excited several technologists. There are those who believe that its size and flexibility make it an immensely versatile piece of hardware that could revolutionize electronic gadgets such as mobile phones, Science Alert noted. It could also help create new products since the solar cell can be embedded in practically any material for almost limitless combinations from clothing, spacecraft to paper.
The researchers have published the details of this project in the latest issue of Organic Electronics.
