MIT Develops Ultra Thin, Light Weight, Efficient Solar Cells (blastingnews.com)

MarkWhittington writes: Researchers at MIT have developed a gossamer thin solar cell that is made of layers of flexible polymers. The cell is so light that it can rest on a soap bubble without breaking it. As a bonus, the thin, light cells puts out 400 times more power than the standard, glass covered photovoltaic cells, at about six watts per gram. According to the researchers, this new development could help power the next generation of portable electronic devices.

Comments

How damage resistant is it?

[Sowelu]

Many other types of solar cells suffer badly from any damage anywhere, however small. Putting this stuff on clothes or on a notebook, or on a vehicle that might get whacked by a rock, seems like a pretty damage heavy environment...rooftop solar doesn't usually have that problem because it's stationary.

Re: How damage resistant is it?

[Ravaldy]

Watts per square inch is more important. If I have a ultrathin solar panel and it gets that many grams/watt it probably takes a huge surface area to get that power.

You need to read the article to understand why it's an advance. For 1 the process itself creates clearer cells hence an increase in efficiency. It you want to compare conventional cells to this one you need to have comparative data as you mentioned which we do not have. In their application watts per grams is ideal because their current intended use is on flying objects such as weather balloons. Here's the part of the article:

While the solar cell in this demonstration device is not especially efficient, because of its low weight, its power-to-weight ratio is among the highest ever achieved. That’s important for applications where weight is important, such as on spacecraft or on high-altitude helium balloons used for research. Whereas a typical silicon-based solar module, whose weight is dominated by a glass cover, may produce about 15 watts of power per kilogram of weight, the new cells have already demonstrated an output of 6 watts per gram — about 400 times higher.

Watts per gram?

[LynnwoodRooster]

Interesting, but portable products are also fairly limited by available surface area, which apparently has not changed in terms of amount needed per Watt.

puts out 400 times more power

[swell]

watts per gram ?
Since when is that a measurement standard?

By that standard, my car provides152HP per muffler bearing. Its MTBF is 32 dog years and fuel efficiency is 1.4 teaspoons per nautical mile . . . Oh, I get it- this is more slash spam where big numbers are inserted somewhere to wow the ignorant.