Cutting Edge Technology: Spray-On Solar Cells

Spray-on solar cells are at the cutting edge of solar technology. Currently in development, they carry with them the Solar Holy Grail promise of cheap, effective, easily-produced solar energy. Potential applications for spray-on solar cells include transforming typically inert building materials, such as siding, roofing, paint and windows into energy producing materials. Spray-on cells could be printed as fast and inexpensively as newsprint, and simply sprayed on to plastic, metal, stainless steel, clothing and other products to create a solar panel out of just about anything.

Recently, scientists at the University of Texas announced that they developed spray-on solar cells that should be ready for marketing (at 10 percent efficiency) in just three to five years. Their current product is still relatively untested. Conversion efficiency for spray-on cells are at only one percent, meaning they convert just one percent of the sunlight that strikes the cells into usable electricity. Researchers would need to reach at least 10 percent to really make a difference.

Spray-on solar cells are made using nanotechnology. This allows them to create solar cells that are functional at the molecular and atomic level, which in turn allows them to make solar cells in liquid form that can be sprayed onto a substrate without damage to the photoelectric particles in the mix.

The first spray-on solar cells were created in 2005. These were the first solar cells to harness invisible infrared solar radiation. Spray-on solar cells are also commonly referred to as "solar paint" and descend from plastic (or polymer) solar cells using quantum dot nanotechnology.

In 2005, researchers predicted that someday, plastic spray-on solar cells could be five times more efficient than solar cells mass-produced today. However, the technology still remains in the development phase, with the University of Texas researchers' three to five year-prediction being the most exciting development to date.

Similar solar cells include Nanosolar's solar ink technology that has recently entered mass production, with a conversion efficiency of 10 percent and a projected manufacturing cost one-tenth that of conventional solar panels.

Plastic Solar Cells / Foil Solar Cells / Carbon Solar Cells / Polymer Solar Cells / Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells / Silicon Solar Cells / Nanocrystal / Organic / Spray-on Solar Cells / Advanced Thin-Film Solar Cells / Thin-Film Solar Cells / Carbon Nanotube Solar Cells / Quantum Dot Solar Cells / Multi-Junction Solar Cells / Hybrid Solar Cells / 3-D Solar Cells