Massachusetts Institute of Technology: here comes the “sheet” that makes any surface photovoltaic

From Massachusetts Institute of Technology comes a Solar Panel thin, indeed very thin. It is often less than one human hair and can be unrolled on any surface, just like a sheet, thus transforming a “normal” roof into a photovoltaic. Not only that: a kilogram of the material of which it is made develops 18 times more power than that of traditional solar panels – and among other things it has a specific weight a hundred times lower. To develop it the scientists of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Mit) of Boston: if they succeed in making this technology scalable, details of which were published in the magazine Small Methodsthe implications in terms of sustainability and energy saving would be significant. “US cities are full of warehouses with very large roofs – has explained to Ieee Spectrum Vladimir Bulovicprofessor of electrical and computer engineering at MIT – which, however, cannot bear the weight of current solar panels, made of silicon. If we had lighter solar panels, we could electrify all these roofs very quickly. And now we have them: our ambition is to be able to develop gods ‘solar carpets’ to unroll on the roofs”.

The realization and possible applications

Not only that: the material could be used on sails of boats, on the wings of drones, on tents; could be supply electricity to the most remote and inaccessible areas, and power relief operations in the management of earthquakes and fires. To make it, MIT scientists covered a sheet of plastic with a layer of parylene (a polymer already used in the aerospace, aeronautical and automotive industries, an excellent electrical insulator that protects against humidity and chemical corrosion) just a few micrometers thick; on top of the parylene they then “printed” several layers of solar cells composed of silver nanowires and another conductive polymer. Finally, a layer of glue on the edges to hold everything together: “We made a square prototypemeasuring 10 x 10 cm – continues Bulovic – but we are convinced that it will be possible to enlarge it. There is nothing preventing the scalability of the process”. Now the researchers plan to conduct more extensive tests and create an “encapsulation” that can protect solar cells from the elements and make them stable for several years. “As I am – concludes Bulovic – solar cells can last one to two years. With encapsulation we can go five or ten years. I think that’s enough”.