Thin-Skinned Solar Panels Printed With Inkjet

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Phys.Org: Solar cells can now be made so thin, light and flexible that they can rest on a soap bubble. The new cells, which efficiently capture energy from light, could offer an alternative way to power novel electronic devices, such as medical skin patches, where conventional energy sources are unsuitable. Until now, ultrathin organic solar cells were typically made by spin-coating or thermal evaporation, which are not scalable and which limit device geometry. This technique involved using a transparent and conductive, but brittle and inflexible, material called indium tin oxide (ITO) as an electrode. To overcome these limitations, the team applied inkjet printing. "We formulated functional inks for each the layer of the solar cell architecture," says Daniel Corzo, a Ph.D. student in Baran's team.

Instead of ITO, the team printed a transparent, flexible, conductive polymer called PEDOT:PSS, or poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate. The electrode layers sandwiched a light-capturing organic photovoltaic material. The whole device could be sealed within parylene, a flexible, waterproof, biocompatible protective coating. [...] After optimizing the ink composition for each layer of the device, the solar cells were printed onto glass to test their performance. They achieved a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 4.73 percent, beating the previous record of 4.1 percent for a fully printed cell. For the first time, the team also showed that they could print a cell onto an ultrathin flexible substrate, reaching a PCE of 3.6 percent. The research has been published in the journal Advanced Materials Technologies.

HP solar link only $14,999 /GAL

[Joe_Dragon]

HP solar link only $14,999 /GAL

Re:HP solar link only $14,999 /GAL

[Frank Burly]

Well at least they're not raising the price.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually I would think that is a considerable drop in the price. many of the HP ink cartridges have only 2-10 ml in them, at an average of 5ml that gives you 900 catridges to the galon. guessing the average price per GAL at moment is somewhere north of $20,000

Re:

[Tuidjy]

I just did some quick look-ups for HP ink. It's $2,000-$3,000 dollars per gallon for black ink, and about $5,000 per gallon for the tri-color cartridges.

More than I expected, but then, if I need more than my 20 years old laser printer can deliver, I'd go to.. I was going to say Kinko, but that has not been around for ages. The last time I needed something like that, I just printed it in a hotel's lobby FedEx Office. And now that I think about it, that's what Kinko's got renamed to, isn't it?

Ripoff

[p51d007]

I've been in the photocopier/printer business for almost 40 years. The ink for black, other than the pigment, is the same as the colors magenta, yellow & cyan. In the toner business, the photoconductive drums for black work just as well for the color drums. We swap them all the time, for troubleshooting purposes. That means, other than the pigment, it's the same toner, regardless of color, but, using the same price model as ink, black is say 150 bucks for a cartridge of toner, but, the other 3 colors

Re:

[AmiMoJo]

The GP wasn't joking, some HP ink is actually about $15,000 per gallon.

PC LOAD PANEL

[CHR$(36)]

I wonder how well the panels sit in the panel tray. My inkjet can barely handle paper.

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[HiThere]

There are reasons that trees don't walk around. Energetic considerations is one of them. This might be useful to power, say, hearing aids, but where to you put the photoelectric panels?

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[Immerman]

>but where to you put the photoelectric panels?

Cybernetic foliage. All the cool kids are getting it.

Re:

[kenai_alpenglow]

"wings". Bat wings if you're goth, angel wings if you're Christian. maybe plug able so you can mix-and-match.

Automotive use?

[inode_buddha]

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.

Re:Automotive use?

[Ungrounded Lightning]

Could be a game changer, imagine painting the entire body of an EV or a hybrid like this to charge the batteries.

Don't expect to ever see a substantial solar car powered by the light that hits it. Cars take a LOT of power. Even in a desert at high noon the light striking a car just doesn't have enough energy to be comparable.

A horsepower is 3/4 kW. Full noon sun is about 1 kW per square meter. With extremely efficient cells you could potentially capture enough energy to have motive power comparable to a horse buggy.

Yes there are "electric car races". But these are purpose-built ultralight vehicles comparable to bicycle-with-wind-cowling technology. For something more car-like, a day's desert sunlight might charge your batteries enough give you a couple slow miles of travel. "Supercar" designs - ultralight composites, synthetic tire materials, extremely efficient electric drive with regenerative braking, aerodynamic body shapes - might approach usability. But you have to carry the driver and passengers, power train, batteries, running gear, wind deflector cowling, and solar panels. That's a lot of mass to fling around, and some of it (e.g. the humans and payload) isn't subject to

Continued; Lenovo trackpad hits "submit" again.

[Ungrounded Lightning]

Yes there are "electric car races". But these are purpose-built ultralight vehicles comparable to bicycle-with-wind-cowling technology. For something more car-like, a day's desert sunlight might charge your batteries enough give you a couple slow miles of travel. "Supercar" designs - ultralight composites, synthetic tire materials, extremely efficient electric drive with regenerative braking, aerodynamic body shapes - might approach usability. But you have to carry the driver and passengers, power train, ba

Not a game changer

[niftydude]

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 plastic rolls in bulk, then cut them up later?

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.

Re:

[bill_mcgonigle]

Odd that the people in that article have a 2-3 year lifespan problem.

I did work c. 2004 for a company in MA that had organic roll-to-roll at higher efficiencies and longevity than that but it still wasn't commercially viable.

Oh, CISRO ... the quest for patent rents.

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[tflf]

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,

large-scale Aussie trials for printed solar panels

[Paul Fernhout]

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

House paint

[drnb]

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 just the roof, the exterior walls. House paint that generates power.

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[iikkakeranen]

Cars don't have enough surface area to make use of solar power, and this is not at all aimed at rooftop solar use. Thinness and flexibility are not really important there, durability and efficiency are.

Let me guess

[AlanObject]

So -- about 600mW per square foot? Too lazy to follow the link.

But they're working on that I'm sure.

Re:

[ShanghaiBill]

So -- about 600mW per square foot?

About 4000mW per sq ft for a flat panel in full sun.

Hasn't this been done before?

[drinkypoo]

ISTR that solar panels have been inkjet printed before. What's special about this time? It didn't pan out last time...

Oh, no...

[LordHighExecutioner]

...I just upgraded from a ink jet printer to a laser jet one!