{"id":11895,"date":"2018-09-14T19:13:56","date_gmt":"2018-09-15T02:13:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/?p=11895"},"modified":"2018-09-14T19:13:56","modified_gmt":"2018-09-15T02:13:56","slug":"print-em-and-stick-em-solar-cells","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cafe.foundation\/blog\/print-em-and-stick-em-solar-cells\/","title":{"rendered":"Print \u2018Em and Stick \u2018Em Solar Cells"},"content":{"rendered":"

University of Newcastle (UON) researchers may have achieved a breakthrough in creating solar cells<\/a> on flexible plastic made in a roll-to-roll process with an unbelievably low price and equally incredible sensitivity.\u00a0 They seem to have succeeded where an American firm failed half a decade ago.<\/p>\n

Printed solar cells were first attempted about a decade ago, with Konarka trying to make solar cells on simple ink-jet printers.\u00a0 The company failed,<\/a> despite having a Nobel Prize winner and other top physicist and chemists overseeing the process.\u00a0 The \u201ccells\u201d never achieved more than about four- or five-percent efficiency and their plastic substrate deteriorated rapidly.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Professor Dastoor with an early installation of his flexible, printed solar film<\/p><\/div>\n

Today, The University of Newcastle in New South Wales, Australia, and CHEP, a client firm, are displaying their thin-cell, recyclable plastic solar film<\/a> that can be stuck to things with double-sided tape.\u00a0 Used initially to monitor response to different solar conditions, the recently-installed film shows some highly-desirable characteristics. \u00a0Professor Paul Dastoor claims, \u201cOur printed solar solution continues to function consistently in low light and under cloud cover, which means that users don\u2019t experience dips in productivity.\u201d<\/p>\n