"See Through Solar Cells"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3ZbuZvq_30
http://seethroughsolar.blogspot.com/2011/06/see-through-solar.html
See Through Solar
"See Through Solar Cells"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3ZbuZvq_30
http://www.google.com/search?q=ftL+solar+cells&hl=en&prmd=ivns&source=lnms&tbm=isch&ei=7Rj6TcGnHo_4gAfnwuyMBQ&sa=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&cd=2&ved=0CAQQ_AUoAQ&biw=1040&bih=670
Ascent Solar tops 14% CIGS cell efficiency, averages 10.5%-plus on modules; signs deal with FTLPosted in News, U.S.APosted by Emma HughesPublished on 22 October 2009Updated on 08 March 2010
The U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory has validated conversion efficiencies of 14.1% for flexible copper-indium-gallium-(di)selenide (CIGS) solar-cell materials produced on Ascent Solar’s 1.5MW commercial pilot line in Littleton, CO. The company’s internal testing shows active-area peak efficiencies for its full-size monolithically integrated CIGS-on-polyimide modules reaching 11.7%, with median efficiencies on the line averaging between 10.5 and 11%-plus, according to president/CEO Farhad Moghadam.
“The whole center line has shifted,” Moghadam told PV-Tech, outlining the significant progress made on median module efficiencies on Ascent’s production line over the past year or so. “In November 2008, the center line was at 8%, in July 2009 the line was at 9%, and today in October 2009, the line is at 10.5%. We have accelerated the efficiency enhancement.”
Earlier this year, NREL measured peak module efficiencies of up to 10.4% after the company had stated 10% module efficiencies as its goal for 2010, when it plans to ramp up its 30MW volume production line. Ascent now believes it can hit a 12% median mark. In the longer term, the company exec thinks there’s enough “headroom to get to 15-16% module efficiency.”
Moghadam (pictured at left), who joined the company in early August after a long career in the semiconductor industry, said that Ascent’s accelerated efficiency path offers “a tremendous cost-reduction knob” to turn, so that, along with other factors like increased throughputs, more watts can be produced for every dollar invested in capital and operations, eventually allowing the company to reach its goal of manufacturing its thin-film PV modules at <$1 per watt.
“Our nameplate 30MW factory is designed for 10% conversion efficiency, so if we get 15%, that’s 50% additional capacity for no additional capex,” he pointed out. In the meantime, reaching 12% efficiencies would push the fab’s potential output up an additional 20%, to about 36MW.
The production fab is “on track to for the first 15MW in the first half of next year,” Moghadam said, “and we expect to exit the year with 30MW.” The company is “accelerating pulling in some of those tools for the second half of the year” and expects to have its entire set of laminators and other back-end equipment in place by the end of this year.
In other news, Ascent said that it will be providing modules to FTL Solar for that company’s R&D contract with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). The parties will work on the development of FTL’s lightweight, flexible tensile structures integrated with Ascent’s CIGS panels.
Expressing his confidence in Ascent’s flexible PV, FTL CTO Robert Lerner believes that “they will work well with our existing products as well as future products currently in our product development pipeline." FTL currently uses flexible amorphous-silicon TFPV laminates from PowerFilm and Uni-Solar in its multipurpose structures.
NYSERDA president/CEO Francis Murray said that the development authority will “invest $250,000 toward this $500,000 FTL project that is developing a unique product with so many real-world, right-now applications. Because of its physical attributes and application flexibility, shade and electricity can be realized just about anywhere.”
The development work will be carried out under a $22,500 collaborative agreement between FTL Solar and the Center for Advanced Microelectronic Manufacturing (CAMM) in Endicott, and the Center for Autonomous Solar at Binghamton University.
http://solarcellssale.info/news-solar-cells/record-efficiency-187-percent-cigs-solar-cells-flexible-polymers.html
http://www.google.com/search?q=Flexible+polymer+Photovoltaics&btnG=Search&hl=en&prmd=ivns&source=lnms&tbm=isch&ei=OHL7TaClGsjy0gG31tXKAw&sa=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&cd=2&ved=0CAQQ_AUoAQ&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&biw=1280&bih=668
&usg=__b0QBQFgjClBquXdIFXYq7c3UKDg%3D&h=100&w=100&sz=5&hl=en&start=5&zoom=1&itbs=1&tbnid=e-xw-DlaAwMwTM:&tbnh=82&tbnw=82&prev=/search?q%3DFlexible%2Bpolymer%2BPhotovoltaics%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D668%26tbm%3Disch%26prmd%3Divns&ei=dJP7TejoM5Or0AGX6ujSAw)
http://www.sciencecodex.com/flexible_films_for_photovoltaics
Flexible films for photovoltaics
posted on: may 26, 2011 - 2:30pm
What do potato chips and thin-film solar cells have in common? Both need films that protect them from air and water vapor: the chips in order to stay fresh and crisp; the solar cells in order to have a useful life that is as long as possible. In most cases, glass is used to protect the active layers of the solar cells from environmental influences. Dr. Klaus Noller from the Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging IVV in Freising explains the advantages of a plastic film: "The films are considerably lighter – and flexible. They make new production processes possible that enable significant reductions in the cost of manufacturing a photovoltaic module." Instead of working with individual glass plates, the solar cells could be printed onto a plastic film and then encapsulated with the barrier film: photovoltaic modules on a roll.
That is not a small goal that the researchers from two Fraunhofer institutes want to achieve: The film and packaging developers led by Dr. Klaus Noller along with Dr. Sabine Amberg-Schwab from the Fraunhofer Institute for Silicate Research ISC in Würzburg, who is an expert in hybrid polymers, called ORMOCER®s – an in-house development of the ISC. She and her team worked almost 20 years on developing a coating material on the basis of ORMOCER® that can be used as an effective barrier against oxygen and water vapor. What has been created is a barrier lacquer that the researchers combined with another known barrier material: silicon dioxide. "The results were astounding," said Amberg-Schwab: "A barrier effect that is far better than could be expected from adding only the two layers. The reason for this are special effects that are generated between the two materials."
For the ideal application on a film, the team in Würzburg developed an ORMOCER® coating material that is easy to process and cure. The damp heat test was a particular obstacle: the cured lacquer coating must remain stable at 85 degrees Celsius and 85 percent humidity. The solar cells on the roof or the facade are intended to withstand extreme weather conditions and temperatures as long as possible. The folks from the Freisinger institute faced the challenge of developing a process with which the barrier layers can be applied to the film perfectly and economically.
Dr. Sabine Amberg-Schwab and Dr. Klaus Noller have developed a specially coated polymer film that is ideally suited for encapsulating inorganic solar cells.
(Photo Credit: © Dirk Mahler)
This was achieved with a roll-to-roll process. The painting line was optimized continuously to meet the special requirements: The ORMOCER®s must be applied in a dust-free environment, with the layer thickness being extremely thin, yet as a continuous film. During this, the coated side must not touch one of the rollers at any time. That would damage the layer. The patented process makes it possible to manu facture tough high barrier films in a cost-effective and environmentally friendly way. Industrial partners are already using this process. Dr. Sabine Amberg-Schwab from the ISC and Dr. Klaus Noller from the IVV will receive one of the three 2011 Joseph von Fraunhofer Prizes for their developments.
Source: Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft
http://solarcellssale.info/news-solar-cells/record-efficiency-187-percent-cigs-solar-cells-flexible-polymers.html
Record efficiency of 18.7 percent for CIGS solar cells, flexible polymers
Posted 14 days ago around News on Admin
Empa researchers are again able to increase the rate of conversion of flexible solar cells based on copper indium diselenide of gallium (CIGS for short) – to reach the record high of 18.7 percent, a significant improvement over the old record of 17.6 percent that same team was established in June 2010. The measurements have been independently certified by the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy in Freiburg / Germany.
It’s (almost) always about money. To make solar power affordable to large scale, scientists and engineers around the world have long been striving to develop cheap solar cells that are both highly efficient and easy to produce in large quantities. Recently, a team from the Laboratory for Thin Films and Photovoltaics of Empa, under the direction of Ayodhya N. Tiwari, has taken a major step in that direction. “The new record conversion rate of 18.7 percent for flexible CIGS solar cells almost completely fill their” efficiency gap “compared to polycrystalline silicon solar cells or solar cells, CIGS on glass,” said Tiwari. He is convinced that “flexible CIGS solar cells to thin film, whose efficiency can be measured without any current best solar cells, have tremendous potential to bring about a paradigm shift in the production of solar electricity at low cost.
An important advantage of flexible solar cells is their low cost of production through a process roll-to-roll “over they have a significantly higher return than the solar cells that are currently on the market. Added to this is still cost savings for transportation, installation, mounting frames of the modules, etc.. In other words, they allow a significant reduction of costs of what is called the neutral system.
In addition, the thin film solar modules flexible open new possibilities for use, for example on the facades of buildings, the solar fields or on portable electronic devices. Tiwari is confident that with the high-performance facilities currently under development, these new methods and concepts should enable the production of flexible CIGS solar modules with a monolithic yield of 16 percent.
Leading in energy efficiency
In recent years, the technology of thin film solar cells on glass substrates has reached a mature technology that enables their industrial production by cons, flexible CIGS solar cells are still in development stage. The latest improvements in efficiency obtained in research laboratories and testing – including the team gathered around Tiwari, formerly a researcher at ETH Zurich and now continues its work for two years at the Empa – contribute towards overcoming the barriers to production.
The close collaboration between Empa and researchers of the start-up FLISOM, which proposes to implement this technology on an industrial scale for marketing, have led to significant advances in low-temperature deposition of CIGS layers . With that, the CIGS cells have become increasingly powerful, to pass an energy efficiency of 14.1 percent in 2005 to the new value of 18.7 percent, current record for all types of solar cells on polymer sheets or metal. The latest developments have reduced losses by recombination, thanks to the improvement of the CIGS layer structure and deposition process at low temperature as well that as the doping of sodium in situ in the final phase deposition. With these results, polymer films have been shown for the first times the foil to optimize the efficiency of solar cells.
So far, records of efficiency, with values up to 17.5 percent, had been obtained on metal foils provided with a diffusion barrier and that too with deposition processes requesting temperatures exceeding 550 degrees Celsius. The deposition process of CIGS low temperature developed by Empa and FLISOM for polymer films has resulted cons without problems conversion rate of 17.7 percent on sheets of metal without any diffusion barrier. These results suggest that the protective coatings against impurities normally used on metal foils are no longer needed with the deposition process. “Our results clearly show the benefits of the CIGS deposition process low temperature when it comes to generating highly efficient flexible solar cells both on polymer sheets on metal sheets,” says Tiwari. These projects have received support from the Swiss National Science Foundation (NSF), the Commission for Technology and Innovation (CTI) program promotes research in the EU and Swiss companies W. BLOSCH FLISOM AG.
Showing newest 8 of 9 posts from 04/26/2009 - 05/03/2009.
Show older posts Showing newest 8 of 9 posts from 04/26/2009 -
05/03/2009. Show older posts
http://rj3sp.blogspot.com/2009_04_26_archive.html
Rogers Research Group
We seek to understand and exploit interesting characteristics of 'soft'
materials, such as polymers, liquid crystals, and biological tissues as well as hybrid combinations
of these materials with unusual classes of inorganics, such as nanoribbons, wires and platelets.
Eco Tech: Semitransparent solar cells to begin a new era of solar electronics
John A. Rogers, a professor of material science and engineering, has developed a new technology which enables solar cells to be printed on many materials, making them flexible and efficient at the same time.
http://rogers.matse.illinois.edu/
The technology is based on the use of ultrathin, semitransparent cells enabling developers to print cells on plastic rolls that could be unfurled for dozens of uses or stamped onto fabric for energy-generating shirts.
clipped from http://www.youtube.com/
clipped from rogers.mse.uiuc.edu
Electronic eyeball camera
This advanced camera uses a hemispherically curved array of photodetectors, in a design inspired by the human retina. This layout enables wide angle fields of view, with uniform illumination and very low aberrations, even when very simple imaging optics are used.
Rogers Research Group
We seek to understand and exploit interesting characteristics of 'soft'
materials, such as polymers, liquid crystals, and biological tissues as well as hybrid combinations of these materials with unusual classes of inorganics, such as nanoribbons, wires and platelets.
Flexible Silicon Microcell Photovoltaics
This unusual PV device consists of an interconnected collection of microbars of silicon, created by controlled etching and release from a silicon wafer followed by transfer printing onto a thin sheet of plastic. The device offers the performance of conventional, rigid silicon modules, but with the lightweight, mechanically flexible construction found in organic photovoltaics.
Sources:
Miniaturizing Solar Technology With Flexible Photovoltaic Cells - NYTimes.com
Solar Tech: Not Just on the Roof Anymore
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/30/business/businessspecial2/30solar.html?_r=2&ref=energy-environment
Eco Tech: Semitransparent Solar Cells To Begin A New Era Of Solar Electronics - Ecofriend
YouTube - See Through Solar Cells
John Rogers' Homepage
Rogers' Current Research Projects
Related:
Transparent flexible solar cells discovered - Low Carbon Economy
See-Through, Bendable Solar Cells Could Expand Use of Solar Power | ScienCentral | Science Videos | Science News
Researchers Discover Transparent Flexible Solar Cells | Top News
Labels: environment, flexible, innovation, science, solar cells, technology, transparent
Sandia Labs Creates Solar Cell that Uses 100 times Less Silicon and Generates Same Amount of Electricity-Can Be Used in Clothing to Recharge Batteries
Sandia National Laboratory representative thin crystalline-silicon photovoltaic cells – these are from 14 to 20 micrometers thick and 0.25 to 1 millimeter across.
http://nanopatentsandinnovations.blogspot.com/2009/12/sandia-labs-creats-solar-cell-that.html
Uploaded by sciencentral on Nov 6, 2008
Fifty years inthe making, solar-power cells are still flat, rigid, and ugly. But new research shows how they could be made lightweight, flexible, and transparent. These innovations could expand solar-cell use to things like solar fabrics and power generating windows. http://www.sciencentral.com/vi<wbr>deo/
EssiacHempLaetrile (9 months ago)
Excellent Technology ... until the Petroleum or Electrical Industry? buys the company :(
RyuDarragh (2 years ago)
But, if efficiency is how many photons get absorbed and converted to electron movement, how can transparent be a good thing? I'd rather they try and find ways of making them more *OPAQUE* and getting those additional photons converted to electron movement! Come on, guys! Solar cells that are as dark as platinum black, woohoo!?
tejhim (1 month ago)
this came? out 2 and a half years ago and i havnt heard anything about this stuff since
jmccuen (2 months ago)
Imagine covering an entire building with this material. Enough energy to power the lights, equipment, A/C etc. Yeah good luck getting that past the? electric company.
GotanARidea (3 months ago)
Great product. Put in on? sails of boats
jcanivan (4 months ago)
Go for? it John
HappyJackProduction1 (6 months ago)
The power companies will not allow solar to make a large impact without their hand in the profit, thats why solar hasnt caught on, wont either. Gotta do? it on your own.
RyuDarragh (7 months ago)
@SpankyNick: Solar power =? good. Solar cells over everything in sight = annoying (almost bad). Transparent cells that can be placed all over the place (wherever glass goes and more) = better. Got it?
RyuDarragh (7 months ago)
@MrProgrampro: It's all down to photon conversion efficiency. A perfect cell is opaque at all frequencies from the deep infrared through the short UV range. At one particular, or a narrow range, the transparent (a relative term) cells may be as efficient as the more opaque cells, but not as efficient as it could? be.
MrProgrampro (7 months ago)
@RyuDarragh maybe they mean "just as efficient" as in there's the same silicon-to-energy ratio. It? won't generate as much, because it uses much less silicon (so thin that it's very transparent).
View all Comments »
Animal-Like Leg Extensions
Clipped from: Kim Graham Studios
Digigrade Leg Extensions
These are Digigrade leg extensions. They are made of steel and add 14 inches of height to the wearer.
But these are not ordinary stilts; they give a person the uncanny and graceful appearance of an animal.
It is really cool! The movement of the legs is genuinely graceful and naturalistic. It is a great deal
of fun being so much taller.
Dell Inspiron 14R, 15R, 17R Hands-On Review
http://notebooks.com/2010/06/20/dell-inspiron-r-notebooks-announced/
DELL 14R INSPIRON
http://www.google.com/search?q=DELL+14R+INSPIRON&btnG=Search&tbm=isch&hl=en&gbv=2
http://notebooks.com/2010/06/20/dell-inspiron-r-notebooks-announced/
http://www.laptops-drivers.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Dell-Inspiron-13R-14r-15r-17r-m501r-released.jpg
Dell Inspiron R model features Intel Core i3 or even i5 latest processor, support 640 GB of harddisk,
8GB of DDR3 slot RAM memory, optionally ATi Video Graphics Card, WiFI Wireless LAN, SRS Sound Audio and Media Card Readers.
Unfortunately, there no word about pricing or even avaibility about this Inspiron R laptop for US market.
Just stay tune
http://www.laptops-drivers.com/laptop-news/dell-inspiron-r-unveiled.html
Record efficiency of 18.7 percent for CIGS solar cells, flexible polymers
Empa researchers are again able to increase the rate of conversion of flexible solar cells based on copper indium diselenide of gallium (CIGS for short) – to reach the record high of 18.7 percent, a significant improvement over the old record of 17.6 percent that same team was established in June 2010. The measurements have been independently certified by the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy in Freiburg / Germany.
It’s (almost) always about money. To make solar power affordable to large scale, scientists and engineers around the world have long been striving to develop cheap solar cells that are both highly efficient and easy to produce in large quantities. Recently, a team from the Laboratory for Thin Films and Photovoltaics of Empa, under the direction of Ayodhya N. Tiwari, has taken a major step in that direction. “The new record conversion rate of 18.7 percent for flexible CIGS solar cells almost completely fill their” efficiency gap “compared to polycrystalline silicon solar cells or solar cells, CIGS on glass,” said Tiwari. He is convinced that “flexible CIGS solar cells to thin film, whose efficiency can be measured without any current best solar cells, have tremendous potential to bring about a paradigm shift in the production of solar electricity at low cost.
An important advantage of flexible solar cells is their low cost of production through a process roll-to-roll “over they have a significantly higher return than the solar cells that are currently on the market. Added to this is still cost savings for transportation, installation, mounting frames of the modules, etc.. In other words, they allow a significant reduction of costs of what is called the neutral system.
In addition, the thin film solar modules flexible open new possibilities for use, for example on the facades of buildings, the solarfields or on portable electronic devices. Tiwari is confident that with the high-performance facilities currently under development, these new methods and concepts should enable the production of flexible CIGS solar modules with a monolithic yield of 16 percent.
Leading in energy efficiency
In recent years, the technology of thin film solar cells on glass substrates has reached a mature technology that enables their industrial production by cons, flexible CIGS solar cells are still in development stage. The latest improvements in efficiency obtained in research laboratories and testing – including the team gathered around Tiwari, formerly a researcher at ETH Zurich and now continues its work for two years at the Empa – contribute towards overcoming the barriers to production.
The close collaboration between Empa and researchers of the start-up FLISOM, which proposes to implement this technology on an industrial scale for marketing, have led to significant advances in low-temperature deposition of CIGS layers . With that, the CIGS cells have become increasingly powerful, to pass an energy efficiency of 14.1 percent in 2005 to the new value of 18.7 percent, current record for all types of solar cells on polymer sheets or metal. The latest developments have reduced losses by recombination, thanks to the improvement of the CIGS layer structure and deposition process at low temperature as well that as the doping of sodium in situ in the final phase deposition. With these results, polymer films have been shown for the first times the foil to optimize the efficiency of solar cells.
So far, records of efficiency, with values up to 17.5 percent, had been obtained on metal foils provided with a diffusion barrier and that too with deposition processes requesting temperatures exceeding 550 degrees Celsius. The deposition process of CIGS low temperature developed by Empa and FLISOM for polymer films has resulted cons without problems conversion rate of 17.7 percent on sheets of metal without any diffusion barrier. These results suggest that the protective coatings against impurities normally used on metal foils are no longer needed with the deposition process. “Our results clearly show the benefits of the CIGS deposition process low temperature when it comes to generating highly efficient flexible solar cells both on polymer sheets on metal sheets,” says Tiwari. These projects have received support from the Swiss National Science Foundation (NSF), the Commission for Technology and Innovation (CTI) program promotes research in the EU and Swiss companies W. BLOSCH FLISOM AG.
http://solar.coolerplanet.com/News/2010042101-organic-photovoltaics-are-making-wearable-solar-possible.aspx
Flexible solar panels already are being incorporated into backpacks hats, coats and sunglasses. But newer solar technologies are allowing photovoltaics to be sprayed on, woven into or dyed into fabrics.
Making someone’s clothes a walking solar-powered billboard in the heart of Times Square New York or on the strip in Vegas, might seem like a waste of cutting-edge technology, but its not the only use of photovoltaic fabrics. For instance, the U.S. Army’s Natick Soldier Systems Center is looking into photovoltaic fabrics to help power advanced electronics, like communications devices and combat computers that are carried by soldiers. The Army also is looking into using shade fabrics to provide solar power for operations.
Photo from Natick
Photo from PPD
Photo from ashioningtech.com
http://solar.coolerplanet.com/News/2010042101-organic-photovoltaics-are-making-wearable-solar-possible.aspx
Organic Photovoltaics Are Making Wearable Solar Possible
Wednesday, April 21, 2010 at 3:45:00 PM - by Nate Lew
“Wait, didn’t his shirt just say, what, now its a picture, what the heck?” It’s a future coming soon as organic photovoltaic solar and LED technologies continue to advance. This would be the goal of wearable solar, a still novel technology that is quickly gaining foot.
EroGear for Gizmodo from John Ellenich on Vimeo.
Flexible solar panels already are being incorporated into backpacks hats, coats and sunglasses. But newer solar technologies are allowing photovoltaics to be sprayed on, woven into or dyed into fabrics.
Making someone’s clothes a walking solar-powered billboard in the heart of Times Square New York or on the strip in Vegas, might seem like a waste of cutting-edge technology, but its not the only use of photovoltaic fabrics. For instance, the U.S. Army’s Natick Soldier Systems Center is looking into photovoltaic fabrics to help power advanced electronics, like communications devices and combat computers that are carried by soldiers. The Army also is looking into using shade fabrics to provide solar power for operations.
Photo from Natick
The use of organic photovoltaics in these fabrics allow the Army to produce energy where it’s not normally available. The photovoltaic camouflage above will help reduce the weight of batteries that soldiers carry. Similarly, the PowerShade allows the Army to quickly set up a remote station that can be used to power equipment without a generator or large battery packs.
Civilians on the other hand, already are able to buy backpacks, brief cases and bags with built-in flexible solar panels. Bags with photovoltaic panels are used to power personal electronics and even laptop computers. But these still use obvious photovoltaic panels. Voltaic and Noon Solar have lines of bags and satchels with integrated photovoltaics suited for charging mobile devices. They also have a laptop bag capable of charging a laptop. The bags have an integrated battery and connections for multiple personal devices as well as holes for headphones.
Civilians on the other hand, already are able to buy backpacks, brief cases and bags with built-in flexible solar panels. Bags with photovoltaic panels are used to power personal electronics and even laptop computers. But these still use obvious photovoltaic panels. Voltaic and Noon Solar have lines of bags and satchels with integrated photovoltaics suited for charging mobile devices. They also have a laptop bag capable of charging a laptop. The bags have an integrated battery and connections for multiple personal devices as well as holes for headphones.
Photo from PPD
However, photovoltaic-integrated clothing is moving forward. For instance, Goose Design and PDD developed the Illum cycling jacket, which is an illuminated biking jacket powered by a photovoltaic panel in the back. Still just a concept, this jacket shows how an integrated photovoltaic can be masked in the fabric so it becomes almost invisible.
But photovoltaic clothes of the near future will become truly invisible parts of the clothes. That’s thanks to flexible-organic polymer based photovoltaics. They are carbon-based solar cells with inorganic photoreactive compounds and can be basically printed on or sewn into clothing. The fabric in the picture on the left and around the waist of the model on the right contains a printed photovoltaic material.
But photovoltaic clothes of the near future will become truly invisible parts of the clothes. That’s thanks to flexible-organic polymer based photovoltaics. They are carbon-based solar cells with inorganic photoreactive compounds and can be basically printed on or sewn into clothing. The fabric in the picture on the left and around the waist of the model on the right contains a printed photovoltaic material.
Photo from ashioningtech.com
Organic photovoltaics do not have the lifespan, nor are they as efficient as silicone or thin-film photovoltaics. But they are very cheap to produce and could also be used in badges, identification cards and other potentially disposable items. Their effectiveness is boosted by nanotechnology.
Until recently, organic solar cells were only able to convert about 2% of the sun’s energy into electricity, but one company, Solarmer Energy has achieved 7.9% conversion efficiency as rated by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in February 2010. The company plans to start producing solar fabrics later in 2010.
Another firm, Konarka Technologies, has developed a solar wire, which could be woven into fabrics and used to transmit electricity. The company is working with other companies and the armed forces in the U.S. to to bring its technology to the consumer and industrial markets.
These technologies are helping to revolutionize how we think of solar power in the future and how we use it. By incorporating photovoltaics into fabrics awnings, shade cloth curtains and more, they could help power lights inside homes and businesses. And by incorporating LED displays, they could create self-powered illuminating business signs. We’re coming closer than ever before to making technology as magic.
Until recently, organic solar cells were only able to convert about 2% of the sun’s energy into electricity, but one company, Solarmer Energy has achieved 7.9% conversion efficiency as rated by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in February 2010. The company plans to start producing solar fabrics later in 2010.
Another firm, Konarka Technologies, has developed a solar wire, which could be woven into fabrics and used to transmit electricity. The company is working with other companies and the armed forces in the U.S. to to bring its technology to the consumer and industrial markets.
These technologies are helping to revolutionize how we think of solar power in the future and how we use it. By incorporating photovoltaics into fabrics awnings, shade cloth curtains and more, they could help power lights inside homes and businesses. And by incorporating LED displays, they could create self-powered illuminating business signs. We’re coming closer than ever before to making technology as magic.
