Engineers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have invented a new technology that allows printing solar cells on paper almost as cheap and easy as printing a photo with inkjet printers.
Output solar panel can be folded and placed in your pocket and will generate electricity again, without problems, once exposed to sunlight. The technique represents an important advance towards the systems used until now to make most solar cells, processes involving substrates exposure to possible destructive conditions, liquid, or heat.
The new printing process uses vapors, not liquids, and temperatures below 120 degrees Celsius. These "mild" terms make possible the use of paper, of fabrics and plastics normal and untreated as a substrate where cells to be printed.
Of course, the technique is a little more complex than it first seems. To create an array of photovoltaic cells on paper, five different layers of material must be stored on the same piece of paper in successive applications, using a mask (also made of paper) to form patterns on the surface of support cells. And the whole process must be conducted in a vacuum chamber.
During testing, solar cells that have been applied on a layer of plastic similar to juice bottles , but thinner, and then folded and unfold 1,000 times behaved very well, without significant loss of performance. In contrast, a commercial solar cell produced in the same material broke down after only one folding. In addition, due to very low weight of the substrate paper or palstic compared to conventional glass or other materials generally used for these purposes, scientists believe they can achieve a Record of the value of watts / kilogram with the new printable solar panels.
But the biggest gain remains perhaps financial, because often systems application, support and installation of photovoltaic panels are more expensive than harvesting solar energy equipment itself.
New technology will reduce two, maybe three times the cost of electricity generation through photovoltaic alternative method. For outdoor use, the paper may be covered with standard rolling materials that will protect from the weather.
Currently, solar cells printed on paper have an efficiency of only 1%, but the MIT team members are convinced that it can be significantly enhanced by further changes and new materials. However, even at current levels, the technology is good enough to power a small electronic device, its creators believe. standard laminating materials that will protect from the weather.
by "environment clean generations"
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