Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Paper solar cells

MIT researchers are now using paper and plastic as a backing for solar photo cells  Find out more in this article by Kate Taylor MIT prints solar cells on paper.  This can significantly reduce the cost of the solar cell because glass is much more expensive as a backing material than paper or plastic.  The cells are also flexible.  At present the efficiency is at 1% and needs to be increased to make it more practical.

From my perspective, the flexible plastic backing probably from recycled plastic makes more sense as  it will be more resilient in wet environments.  The plastic would also need to be able to withstand wide temperature changes.

Photo from TG Daily

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