MIT Prints Solar Cells onto Paper

Could the recipe for home solar power in the future be as simple as an inkjet printer, carbon-based solar cells and a piece of paper? Could homeowners someday tack, staple or roll their own thin-film solar panels onto their roofs?

MIT scientists have successfully printed carbon solar cells onto paper, ushering in those distinct possibilities for our solar-powered future. As per usual with these sort of cutting-edge innovations, there is still much work to be done. And thus that ever-hanging if stands in front of yet another solar innovation. If scientists can raise conversion efficiencies to commercially competitive levels, their product could revolutionize the solar industry. So far, efficiency lags at between 1.5 and 2 percent, although their quest is eased somewhat by simple and inexpensive production. In other words, they don’t have to hit 20 percent efficiencies that rival monocrystalline silicon solar panels because the latter are expensive to produce and install.

Regardless of progress yet to be made, last week’s unveiling of MIT’s paper solar cells is the first of its kind and a momentous occasion in solar power history. How momentous exactly remains to be seen. Driving their momentum is the scientists’ ability to print the solar cells onto paper using a process similar to that of an inkjet printer. So making solar cells in the future could be as easy as printing out your child’s book report (although it’s doubtful we’ll all be printing solar cells in our living rooms). MIT scientists hope that one day the same process could be used to print cells onto plastic or foil.

That upgrade to plastic or foil will be key because, after all, how durable can a piece of paper be? Synthetics will have to play a big role on the road to commercialization. But in the end, cheap, ready-made solar cells could be integrated into camping tents, apparel or home products, stuck onto gadgets, computers or cars. The possibilities are seemingly endless, although I don’t like to get too geeked about these solar innovations; there’s just too much volatility and uncertainty in a very young solar industry (those big ifs ‘n’ all). Of course, I doubt the ancient Egyptians really understood the world-changing future of papyrus when they first invented it.

Via Inhabitat
Photo Credit: CNET

Posted on May 11th in Solar Research by Dan.