Printable Paper Solar Panels

Konarka technologies has just.

Printable paper solar panels.

Scientists and researchers from various universities have developed technologies which use cyanobacteria to create a living ink. Paper thin solar cells on paper can now be produced with inkjet printing. If you like the idea of solar power but aren t convinced by expensive clunky solar panels just yet here s a more manageable option. It s a perfectly green and biodegradable source of renewable energy.

But some scientists say it will eventually be possible to print photovoltaic elements on a huge range of surfaces and materials creating cheap printable solar cells in place of more costly silicon panels. Print your own on an inkjet. Traditional solar cells start as polysilicon which is melted and infused with boron to create a semiconductor. It may still seem far fetched to imagine our houses powered by solar cells in curtains blinds and windows.

Researchers at the king abdullah university of science and technology have developed solar panels that are thin enough to be printed with inkjet light enough to rest on a soap bubble. Conventional ultrathin organic solar cells are typically made by spin coating or thermal evaporation with limits on scalability and device geometry. A printer in the clayton office of csiro has made prototypes of the panels in order to work on the efficiency of the solar cells. They re using off the shelf desktop inkjet printers to print paper solar panels that can power small devices and wearable technology.

This will allow solar cells to be much cheaper and be placed almost anywhere.