Researchers develop "paint-on" solar cells

The quest to builder a better, cheaper solar cell continues on, as researchers at the New Jersey Institute of Technology have developed a new type of solar cell that can be printed or painted onto flexible plastic sheets. Unlike traditional silicon cells, the print-on cells are composed of carbon nanotubes and buckyballs, which results in substantially cheaper manufacturing costs and greater efficiency, since apparently carbon nanotubes are terrific conductors. The scientists seem pretty pumped about the potential for their tech, with lead researcher Somenath Mitra quite confidently proclaiming that we'll all soon be printing "sheets of these solar cells with inexpensive home-based inkjet printers." Yeah, we're sure there won't be any shenanigans going on in that ink cartridge market.

[Via Inhabitat]

[Clayj @ Jul 23rd 2007 11:20PM]

Cool! Sounds a lot like "Paint" from Stephen Baxter's novel "Transcedent"... sentient solar-power collecting paint that is used on practically every building to generate power.

[David @ Jul 23rd 2007 11:26PM]

This story was published July 18th on physorg.com:

http://www.physorg.com/news103997338.html

[oxfdblue @ Jul 23rd 2007 11:55PM]

Check out what this company is doing- XSunX (www.xsunx.com). Producing rolls of solar film that can be applied to glass (it's tinted, but still see through) or any building surface.

[Sean @ Jul 24th 2007 1:27PM]

Unfortunately they don't have a product yet. I was watching them 3 years ago when I put a PV system up on my house, and I don't think they are partnering with anyone to produce these cells yet.

[logyk @ Jul 24th 2007 12:03AM]

sound's like a good idea for electric cars and house Roofing.. too bad battery technology hasn't advanced much in the past decade.

[david nicol @ Jul 24th 2007 4:25AM]

oh but it has! a123systems

[jason @ Jul 24th 2007 2:01AM]

This is the best news ive heard in a long time. If
this trend continues...

1. Increase efficiency
2. Decrease cost
3. F*** oil(or just use it for plastic)
4. Repeat steps 1-4

[coolblue @ Jul 24th 2007 5:27AM]

And Roads, and Cosmetics, and practically everything else we produce. This could be a great innovation with amazing potential but we are going to need to do a lot more to sever our dependence on oil.

[strider_mt2k @ Jul 24th 2007 8:01AM]

What? Corporate greed ruin a perfectly good concept? NEVER!

[Frankenstein Black @ Jul 24th 2007 10:58AM]

POW POW! Two to the Dome by the Oiligarch's secrete forces!! (are ya crazy man?! Messing with their future Oil profits?)

[Cellullose @ Jul 24th 2007 11:01AM]

Wait, did I read that right? Print it from an inkjet printer?

That's a great way to INCREASE the cost of solar cells, not decrease it. Has anyone watched the price/oz of printer ink? Has anyone actually seen the price of ink go DOWN?

I'm certain that it would be cheaper to use liquid gold or highly refined oil than actual printer ink.

[movies4axe @ Jul 24th 2007 1:45PM]

Actually the price of ink has remained fairly constant.

A significant component of the cost of an inkjet cartridge, however, lies in the printhead hardware that is part of every cartridge.

The newer Kodak inkjet printers internalize the printhead hardware. This means the end-user doesn't keep purchasing printhead hardware with every cartridge. End result: lower cost for replacement inks - to the order of 50% savings.

But back to the topic on hand, when we're talking about manufacturing solar cells, hardware boards or other, inkjet printing is a very attractive option: little wastage, fairly consistent high-volume output, and little to no toxic waste generated. Compare that to conventional chemical etching processes which ain't helpin' Momma Nature in the least.

For the record, the article did not specifically state that it would be using present-day conventional ink, just relying on inkjet printing methods. I would imagine that you would have to purchase a cartridge of fullerenes to get a working printed solar-sheet...just remember to swap out the cartridge when you need to print out that book-report for school.

If they could put the solar-paint in an aerosol can, you'd have power-generating graffiti.

[Cellullose @ Jul 24th 2007 2:59PM]

I'm unconvinced that the inkjet prices staying constant... Every metric I've read about Inkjet consumables (i.e. ink cartridges) from consumer electronics magazines to various manufacturing journals shows a trend of increasing price per page.

I'm just pleased to see that there are some promising new methods to manufacturing solar cells. Many of the current techniques and materials used for Solar Cells produces an immense amount of waste and consumes large quantities of energy. Many of the silicon-based cells use rare and difficult-to-manufacture silcon compounds... extracting/producing those compounds aren't too eco-friendly either.

Not too smart--use one rare substance whose production is bad for the planet to substitute for another rare substance whose use is bad for the planet. Makes no sense to me (the concept, not just my writing)

[Rik @ Jul 25th 2007 4:06AM]

Hmmm, i'm going to get in thin film Silicium solar cells for my master thesis, but maybe I should reconsider :-D...

[jason @ Jul 27th 2007 4:07AM]

1.) yep, we truly are a country sucking on the tired old titties of mama oil. but screw paving the earth. screw covering natural beauty with cosmetics. keep em coming ill keep knockin em down (not plastic though, it is reusable, useful, and andy warhol's favorite material).

2.)Think of the possible uses for this technology. Go ahead, go wild. dont hold back. Just imagine: all those skyscrapers in our cities looking exactly the same but with one minor(but oh so major) operation. The stories and stories of glistening windows we all know so well: covered with tinted transparent solar paint. That's a lot of surface area and a lot of sunlight. 2, 3, 4 or more birds with one stone. Or how about on all car windows. And thats just one.

3.) Sure solar power couldn't power the world alone, but that's why it needs companions. eath, wind, water, fire, heart! with our powers combined... catch my drift. Antartica is full of intense wind yearround and pure sunlight for half a year straight! fields of solar panels and windmills could capture sunlight that would otherwise be doing no more then melting this useful but underused continent. Lets take advantage of it while we still have it. In 2012 an intense solar max will be at its peak, and it begins this fall. know what that sounds like to me? no not the end of the world or the mayan prophecy coming true. yes a lot of fucking sunlight that we could use. So, all around the world hundreds of differnt types of energy capturing mechanisms working together for the power of everyone is the way of the future. Every footstep, ever draft of wind created by traffic, all the city noise, and even lost heat energy recaptured and thrown back to the grid. Most of this technology has already been invented just not applied. And though we have already been doing this for decades just on a much smaller scale (admittedly not as much as we should be) that brings me to my next point.

4.)It should not be and is not about plugging the world through one abundant and powerful source. That's setting us up for disaster and is about as useful as a monarchy: sucks for anyone living in it as all their fate are hanging from the fate of one. Is this not the lesson we have learned from the "Oil Days"? Plus every time we discover a new type of abundant energy that is more powerful than the last, wether thats oil, nuclear, whatever tesla discovered and threw away, or just straight up free energy... we also are discovering a new, more powerful bomb. and god knows we need no more of those. think about if we had just free energy that was more than 100 percent efficient, that means some waco out there will same "darn thatll make a damn good bomb." If a bomb had more than 100% effiency, then in theory that means it would feed off itself and eventually engulf this entire place we cherish so much and so on into infinite. We need many types of natural energies captured more efficiently. The future of energy is a sandwich(mmmm yum) of deep fried independence and self-sufficiency secured by buns of local/ national/ international power grid just in case.

5.)We need to convince people to move away from grid-dependence and toward independence. Self powered residence (more modern earthships anyone) and industry (such as these zero emissions factories). This is what it is about: Indepence from the cradle of the grid but still have a good one for backup. That way we have less dependence on our government. For the medieval's it was control through religious persecution, for us it is power persecution. So how do we achieve this? Unfortunately through democratic processes and cheesy trends like the ol' "Green" slogan and well... people like hippies who arent out to fuck this place up(just themselves), and through social leaders and heroes. So instead of passing this off as a way for the imperial government to take advantage and enforce a new world order (which it is, but this is where self-sufficiency comes in. they couldnt do that if we didnt need them so much), embrace it as it is a good way to get the word out! nobody listens to intellectuals anymore or reads, so its the only way!

DOWN WITH THE OILIGARCHY!!!