The problem with solar power is that it's so damned expensive. It doesn't matter that there's a free fountain of energy pouring down on every square meter of the Earth, if you can't plug into it. Bringing down the cost of solar panels is the holy grail.
Figure that out, and everything changes.
Here's a step forward. Researchers at New Jersey Institute of Technology have developed an inexpensive solar cell that can be painted or printed onto flexible plastic sheets. The process is so straightforward, researchers say, that home users might eventually be able to print their own solar cells with inexpensive inkjet printers. You could then slap the printed cells on your roof and start generating power.
The research, entitled Fullerene single wall carbon nanotube complex for polymer bulk heterojunction photovoltaic cells, is the cover story for the June 21, 2007 issue of the Journal of Materials Chemistry, published by the Royal Society of Chemistry.
Unlike traditional solar cells, which are made from purified silicon, these cells are made from organic compounds: carbon nanotubes and carbon fullerenes (also known as buckyballs).
Here's how it works. The nanotubes are arranged with the buckyballs in a structure where they compliment each other. When photons of light strike this material, electrons are produced and captured by the buckyballs. The nanotubes act like wires, to extract the electrons, and allow the buckyballs to capture more. Connect it all together and you've got a power source.
Of course, the researchers hope to see these in use everywhere in the future. Here's Dr. Somenath Mitra.
I'll get my inkjet printer warmed up.
Original Source: NJIT News Release
