Could be a game changer, imagine painting the entire body of an EV or a hybrid like this to charge the batteries. Or a roofing material for construction.
The guys working on ultra-thin inkjet solar panels are just doing fundamental research in chemistry. They are diving down a rabbit hole that doesn't provide any benefit I can see over existing technologies.
For example, these guys: https://www.abc.net.au/news/sc... [abc.net.au]
have had plastic roll-to-roll screen printed solar sheets for years.
Why would you use the inkjet system in BeauHD's article to slowly print solar cells when you can use mass-manufacture screen-printing techniques to print solar cells on plas
As far as I can see, the research in this story is a step backwards from existing technologies, and the reporter can only make it look good by ignoring everything that already exists.
Yes, this is fundamental research in chemistry, and, for solar power, does appear to be a dive gone down the rabbit hole. That's the reality for the vast majority of scientific research. For every game-changing, new and improved, commercially viable product or process resulting from any individual project, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of total failures. The difference here: these results are not a failure.
The fact they found a way to use " brittle and inflexible" indium tin oxide, as a flexible electrode, is the significant achievement. The potential game-changing commercial or practical use of their process need not be solar power collection. Proof of concept, even it it less than overwhelming in the intended application, often leads to a third party finding a different practical, and revolutionary, use for it.
Automotive use? (Score:3, Interesting)
Could be a game changer, imagine painting the entire body of an EV or a hybrid like this to charge the batteries. Or a roofing material for construction.
Not a game changer (Score:5, Informative)
For example, these guys: https://www.abc.net.au/news/sc... [abc.net.au] have had plastic roll-to-roll screen printed solar sheets for years.
Why would you use the inkjet system in BeauHD's article to slowly print solar cells when you can use mass-manufacture screen-printing techniques to print solar cells on plas
Re:Not a game changer (Score:2)
As far as I can see, the research in this story is a step backwards from existing technologies, and the reporter can only make it look good by ignoring everything that already exists.
Yes, this is fundamental research in chemistry, and, for solar power, does appear to be a dive gone down the rabbit hole. That's the reality for the vast majority of scientific research. For every game-changing, new and improved, commercially viable product or process resulting from any individual project, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of total failures. The difference here: these results are not a failure.
The fact they found a way to use " brittle and inflexible" indium tin oxide, as a flexible electrode, is the significant achievement. The potential game-changing commercial or practical use of their process need not be solar power collection. Proof of concept, even it it less than overwhelming in the intended application, often leads to a third party finding a different practical, and revolutionary, use for it.