Printable Solar Panels
Imagine being able to print your own power supply, it would basically mean you were in effect printing your own money.
Well Australian scientists have found a way to print large but extremely lightweight and flexible solar panels.
The scientists at the CSIRO said the A3-sized panels, which are made by laying a liquid photovoltaic ink onto thin, flexible plastic could soon mean everyone has the ability to print their own solar panels in their own home.
“It would definitely be feasible to do that,” said CSIRO materials scientist Dr Scott Watkins.
“The general concept of being able to manufacture on demand, in a house or in a workplace, is really a key feature of what we’re doing.”
CSIRO’s solar panels, which have been in development for seven years with a team of experts at Monash and Melbourne universities, are attracting interest from big companies that see potential for a wide range of applications.
In the short term uses include, putting the panels (which are said to have a feel similar to the pages of a glossy magazine) onto laptops or mobile phones, iPad covers, laptop bags, skins of iPhone. Giving you an hour’s worth of extra power.
In the long term this technology has the ability to transform society and the way we think about obtaining power. For instance they could be printed on to skyscraper windows or roofs, reducing electricity bills to next to nothing.
“We’re actively talking to a Victorian company at the moment about incorporating them into windows,” Dr Watkins added.
The ability to print solar panels is not new in itself – but what is new is the ability to make them as large and powerful as the Australian version.
At the moment, the 30 centimetre-wide panels generate between 10 to 50 watts of power per square metre and have been proven to last at least six months.
But that lifetime and wattage will be boosted in the future and the printers needed to make the panels far smaller, Dr Watkins said.
Post time: Jun-30-2017