From MITNewsOffice
A team of researchers at MIT has invented a radical new way of creating solar panels: print an array of photovoltaic cells on paper in a vacuum chamber. Five layers of material are deposited onto the sheet of paper in successive passes, using a paper mask to form the patterns of cells on the surface.
It’s basically the same process used to make the silvery lining in your bag of potato chips and the resulting solar panel is quite resilient. Instead of paper, you can also use flexible plastic. Imagine printing solar cells onto window shades, wallpaper or even glass that incorporate designs (I’m sure they can add colored inks that do not affect the efficiency of the panels).
Can we be far behind when we get to printing image sensors?
Graduate student Miles Barr hold a flexible and foldable array of solar cells that have been printed on a sheet of paper.Photo: Patrick Gillooly
Read the article at: physorg.