These Ultra-Thin Solar Cells Can Be Glued To Any Surface And Produce Incredible Power – SlashGear

The biggest benefit, however, of these screen-printed solar cells is that they can be fixed to any surface, letting it harness the Sun’s energy and converting regular objects into a power generation source. The team behind it proposes that these cells “could be integrated onto the sails of a boat to provide power while at sea, adhered onto tents and tarps.” In fact, these can also be plastered over the wings of drones to boost their range, without disrupting their fickle aerodynamic efficiency. Talking about drone range though, the folks over at Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) are funding a tech called Whisper Beam that will charge drones mid-air using a focused beam of radio waves.

Circling back to the amazing work with solar cells that is being accomplished at MIT, the whole idea is to make the photovoltaic power generation tech easy to install, without any cost or expertise hassles. Scalability is another core issue that these solar cells address. Compared to traditional solar cells that rely on metal frames and glass casing, these ultra-thin cells can be printed using ink-based materials. The electronic ink needed in this case includes nanomaterials and it essentially uses the same technique as “silkscreened T-shirts.” 

Talking about the mass-energy efficiency figures here, the team says 20 kilograms worth of their flexible solar cells will be enough to generate 8,000 watts of electrical power, which sounds absurd compared to the hefty weight of a typical solar cell installation.