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Australian researchers hail printable solar cells breakthrough
May 21, 2013
Australian researchers hail printable solar cells breakthrough
Scientists in Australia have drastically scaled up the size of printed solar cells, potentially paving the way for the renewable energy technology to be rolled out across a multitude of buildings and every day technologies, from windows to laptops.
The Victorian Organic Solar Cell Consortium, a collaboration between the University of Melbourne, Monash University and a number of industry partners, announced late last week that they had printed A3 sized solar cells, 10 times the size of their previous efforts.
The achievement was made possible by a new printer installed at Australia’s national science agency, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial research Organisation (CSIRO). Three years ago, they were only able to print solar cells the size of a fingernail, but the new printer has allowed them to produce cells that are 30 centimeters wide.
CSIRO materials scientist Dr. Scott Watkins said the printer technology could represent a major breakthrough for the solar industry, resulting in a host of new applications for solar cells and also raising the prospect of boosting the efficiency of existing silicon-based solar panels. With the ability to print at speeds up to ten meters per minute, the team reckons they could produce on cell every two seconds, drastically reducing the cost of solar cell manufacturing.
Read more at Business Green.
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