The Photovoltaic: Flexible Solar Cells

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An international team of engineers, physicists, and chemists have created the first fiber-optic solar cell. These fibers are thinner than human hair, flexible, and yet they produce electricity, just like a normal solar cell. The US military is already A new, relatively high-voltage solar cell that can charge the li-ion batteries of portable electronics such as e-book readers and cellphones in partial shade has been created by the University of Warwick and Molecular Solar. This type of solar cell is Researchers have demonstrated an eco-friendly process that enables unprecedented spatial control over the electrical properties of graphene oxide. This two-dimensional nanomaterial has the potential to revolutionize flexible electronics, solar cells and While scientists and engineers are still racing to make solar panels more efficient and feasible, some are trying to make the technology more attractive. Literally. Researchers from the VTT Technical Centre of Finland have developed a process that creates These solar cells are cheap and flexible, but the liquid nature of their pigments means that they must be well sealed. Bend a dye-sensitized solar cell more than a few times and the seals are likely to break, destroying its light-harvesting properties. Reducing solar panel costs isn’t enough. Installation now accounts for well over half the cost of solar power. Spool of glass: Machines roll up flexible glass at a Corning factory. Researchers at the U.S. government’s National Renewable Energy .

One recent promising result has been demonstrated by a research team in China who have developed a novel solar cell from flexible, light-weight, ultrastrong, and semiconductive carbon nanotube (CNT) fiber. The high alignment of building nanotubes in the Because they are cheaper, lighter, and more versatile than conventional silicon-wafer solar panels, flexible thin-film solar cells are expected to grow in use, reaching an estimated total power output of 1.6 gigawatts worldwide by 2020. They are made by MIT researchers have shown how solar panels can be printed on paper and other cheap materials, opening a range of possibilities including homes with solar-panel window shades or wallpaper. Last year, CNET's Martin LaMonica reported on how MIT had developed Scientists have been looking into flexible solar cells for decades, partly for coating irregularly shaped objects but also for integrating into wearable fabrics. One popular line of investigation has been dye-sensitized solar cells, in which a pigment .