A way to print flexible solar cells onto any material
A team of researchers at the University of Illinois has developed a new way to print flexible, semitransparent and ultrathin cells on cloth, plastic or any other materials. When this technology will be a success, it may provide the solar industry with alternatives to the fixed installations that are common today: cells may be printed on plastic rolls that could be unfurled for dozens of uses or stamped onto fabric for energy generating shirts.
The technology has been licensed by a semiconductor company named Semprius, located in Durham, N.C., which could roll out the initial prototypes in about a year. Using standard lithographic techniques the semitransparent solar cells are first fabricated on semiconductor wafers and then transferred by a soft rubber stamp onto another material.
To control the transparency and the flexibility of these solar cells, their density on any material has to be altered. By altering the density, the developers could make solar powered windscreens, generating electricity for your hybrid or electric vehicle.
