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
Searching on info from your link leads to one a year later: https://www.pv-magazine-austra... [pv-magazin...tralia.com] "Researchers at the University of Newcastle, in partnership with CHEP Australia, have entered into large-scale trials for solar panels printed from a conventional printing press."
The lead researcher: https://www.newcastle.edu.au/p... [newcastle.edu.au] "Currently in the final stages of perfecting the process of printing water-based solar paint, Professor Dastoor and his team of 30 researchers at the University of Newcastle's Centre of Organic Electronics are about to start printing hundreds of metres of solar cells per day. They have also become the first in the world to build energy-efficient devices from water-soluble solar paint materials."
Australia has a lot of desert lands...
Potentially, if they use the electric power to produce synthetic biofuels from atmospheric gasses, Australia could even become the next oil exporter? Although if everyone has cheap solar panels and better batteries, there may be less demand for liquid fuels.
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
large-scale Aussie trials for printed solar panels (Score:2)
Searching on info from your link leads to one a year later: https://www.pv-magazine-austra... [pv-magazin...tralia.com]
"Researchers at the University of Newcastle, in partnership with CHEP Australia, have entered into large-scale trials for solar panels printed from a conventional printing press."
The lead researcher: https://www.newcastle.edu.au/p... [newcastle.edu.au]
"Currently in the final stages of perfecting the process of printing water-based solar paint, Professor Dastoor and his team of 30 researchers at the University of Newcastle's Centre of Organic Electronics are about to start printing hundreds of metres of solar cells per day. They have also become the first in the world to build energy-efficient devices from water-soluble solar paint materials."
Australia has a lot of desert lands...
Potentially, if they use the electric power to produce synthetic biofuels from atmospheric gasses, Australia could even become the next oil exporter? Although if everyone has cheap solar panels and better batteries, there may be less demand for liquid fuels.