MIT Unveils First Solar Cells Printed On Paper

Posted by timothy on Wednesday May 5, 2010 @06:20AM from the let's-give-them-some-post-unveiing-privacy dept.

lucidkoan writes "MIT researchers recently unveiled the world's first thin-film solar cell printed on a sheet of paper. The panel was created using a process similar to that of an inkjet printer, producing semiconductor-coated paper imbued with carbon-based dyes that give the cells an efficiency of 1.5 to 2 percent. That's not incredibly efficient, but the convenience factor makes up for it. And in the future, researchers hope that the same process used in the paper solar cells could be used to print cells on metal foil or even plastic. If they're able to gear efficiencies up to scale, the development could revolutionize the production and installation of solar panels."

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Not the first, not by a long shot by ArcRiley · 2010-05-05 06:43 · Score: 4, Informative

This is not the first. A company in New Hampshire has been printing, with a 4-ink inkjet process, solar cells for years now. A quick patent search shows dozens of other groups with their own solar-from-inkjet techniques.
Sounds like the MIT guys failed to do their research.