Introducing the thinnest solar cell ever created!

Imagine a photovoltaic cell 50 times thinner than a human hair… Now it is real! Yet, only in laboratory scale.

Imagine a photovoltaic cell 50 times thinner than a human hair… Now it is real! Yet, only in laboratory scale.

Researchers in MIT created an ultrathin, lightweight and flexible solar cell, which could be placed on almost every surface and material, even on top of a soap bubble without breaking it! They believe these kind of cells can have a wide variety of applications, including helping power the next generation of portable electronic devices. The cells are created in a vacuum chamber at room temperature, without the use of solvents, unlike conventional solar-cell manufacturing which requires high temperatures and harsh chemicals. The whole process is described in a paper published last January.

Their characteristics

The cells are about 2μm thick, which equals 1/50 the thickness of a human hair and 1/1000 the thickness of an equivalent glass-based solar cell. The substrate and overcoating are made of a flexible polymer called parylene, whereas the primary light-absorbing layer is made of an organic material called DBP. They can generate electricity as efficiently as the traditional cells, yet their power-to-weight ratio is among the highest ever achieved (a typical glass-based cell may produce about 15 watts of power per kilogram of weight, whereas the new cells have already demonstrated an output of 6 watts per gram — about 400 times higher!).

Joel Jean and Anna Osherov/MIT

Source: MIT News