2009-05-02

Transparent Flexible Solar Cells

clipped from www.nytimes.com
New York Times

Solar Tech: Not Just on the Roof Anymore

PHOTOVOLTAIC cells are already a familiar sight on rooftops. But one day, miniature cells may also be found in more unconventional places: power-generating windows, car sunroofs or even awnings.

clipped from www.ecofriend.org

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.
thin film solar_2
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 www.youtube.com
clipped from rogers.mse.uiuc.edu
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.

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Sources:
  1. Miniaturizing Solar Technology With Flexible Photovoltaic Cells - NYTimes.com
  2. Eco Tech: Semitransparent Solar Cells To Begin A New Era Of Solar Electronics - Ecofriend
  3. YouTube - See Through Solar Cells
  4. John Rogers' Homepage
  5. Rogers' Current Research Projects

Related:
  1. Transparent flexible solar cells discovered - Low Carbon Economy
  2. See-Through, Bendable Solar Cells Could Expand Use of Solar Power | ScienCentral | Science Videos | Science News
  3. Researchers Discover Transparent Flexible Solar Cells | Top News