Solar Cells Can Now Be Printed Onto Sheets of Paper (And it’s Cheap!)

If you haven’t heard about solar printing, listen to this.

MIT researchers developed a way to print solar cells onto ordinary sheets of paper. And harvest solar energy. And power your portable electronics. For very little money.

Interested in going solar? Get pricing information here.

These “solar papers” can be printed onto anything from newspapers to tissue paper to standard documents using a solar printer.

Sheets are run through the printer into a vacuum chamber, sprayed with photovoltaic material in the shape of solar cells and bonded together.

The end result is a foldable, creasable, and nearly indestructible sheet of power-producing energy independence.

And the cost difference is startling.

Where typical solar panels require expensive glass and rare materials like cadmium telluride, solar printing can be achieved for far lower manufacturing costs.

Power output is admittedly weaker, but in time researchers believe they can compete with solar panel systems as we know them today.

And in the meantime, small appliances or electronics can be fueled on the cheap with clean energy from the sun.

What do you think?

If they became available, would you power up your gadgets with solar sheets?

Let me know in the comments!

Posted on July 13th in Solar News by Brittany.