[LINK] solar cells
stephen at melbpc.org.au
stephen at melbpc.org.au
Mon Jul 4 23:09:57 AEST 2011
'Cling-film' solar cells could lead to advance in renewable energy
<http://www.nanowerk.com/news/newsid=21973.php>
(Nanowerk News) A scientific advance in renewable energy which promises a
revolution in the ease and cost of using solar cells, has been announced
today, Monday 4 July 2011.
A new study shows that even when using very simple and inexpensive
manufacturing methods - where flexible layers of material are deposited
over large areas like cling-film - efficient solar cell structures can be
made.
The study, published in the journal Advanced Energy Materials paves the
way for new solar cell manufacturing techniques and the promise of
developments in renewable solar energy.
Plastic (polymer) solar cells are much cheaper to produce than
conventional silicon solar cells and have the potential to be produced in
large quantities.
Dr Andrew Parnell of the University of Sheffield said, "Our results give
important insights into how ultra-cheap solar energy panels for domestic
and industrial use can be manufactured on a large scale.
Rather than using complex and expensive fabrication methods to create a
specific semiconductor nanostructure, high volume printing could be used
to produce nano-scale (60 nano-meters) films of solar cells that are over
a thousand times thinner than the width of a human hair.
These films could then be used to make cost-effective, light and easily
transportable plastic solar cell devices such as solar panels."
"Over the next fifty years society is going to need to supply the growing
energy demands of the world's population without using fossil fuels, and
the only renewable energy source that can do this is the Sun", said
Professor Richard Jones of the University of Sheffield.
"In a couple of hours enough energy from sunlight falls on the Earth to
satisfy the energy needs of the Earth for a whole year, but we need to be
able to harness this on a much bigger scale than we can do now. Cheap and
efficient polymer solar cells that can cover huge areas could help move
us into a new age of renewable energy."
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Cheers,
Stephen
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