The lightweight, flexible, and efficient characteristics of these next-Generation solar cells will allow solar energy to be implemented in a lot of places around the world. It becomes difficult to achieve consistent quality control when dealing with materials. To illustrate the scale of the difficulty, each individual solar cell produced by Power Roll is about 1/50th of the width of a human hair. The widespread adoption of solar energy is out bought by the traditional silicone solar panels. Traditional silicone solar panels for buildings cant be used for some building because of their weight and rigidity.
This new Solar cell is 1.3 micrometers big and could theoretically could produce 400 times as much power as traditional solar cells. This cell is made from an incredibly flexible cling wrap-like plastic called parylene potentially giving rise to solar panels stitched invisibly to our everyday items. MIT’s design is only lab tested right now and is years away from commercial selling but the proof of concept is already is already exciting the scientists.
The sleek, light design has many advantages because it is easy and simple to use and transport especially in remote locations for emergencies. The light weight solar fabrics enable integratiblity, providing impedus for the current work. We strive to accelerate solar adoption, given the present urgent need to deploy new carbon free sources of energy. As the demand for clean energy grows, this new innovation could make solar cells more accessible and portable.
These durable, flexible solar cells which are also much thinner than a human hair are glued to strong light weight fabric making them easy to install on many surfaces. They can provide energy on the go with wearable power fabric or to be transported easily and efficiently. Because the solar cells are so thin they can be laminated to many different surfaces. They could also be applied to the sails of boats to provide power while at sea. They could also be put on tents or on tarps that could provide power in a shelter or to be deployed in disaster recovery operations. They also could be added to drone wings to extend the battery life of drones.
Solar panels have been getting cheaper and more efficient over the years since 2010. Solar adoption is getting very popular because they cut down the cost of electricity but they are very heavy. MIT researchers have discovered how to make a solar cells one hundredth of the size that are made in a process of steps. First they lay down a plastic sheet and then put electrodes and then glue it into the surface.
Related Stories
https://interestingengineering.com/energy/perovskite-film-25x-lighter
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/03/thinnest-lightest-solar-cells/
https://inhabitat.com/incredible-new-solar-cells-are-thinner-than-human-hair/
https://news.mit.edu/2022/ultrathin-solar-cells-1209
https://www.fastcompany.com/90825579/mit-engineers-designed-ultra-thin-solar-cells-for-any-surface
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