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

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.

Re:Watts per gram?

[dsmatthews9379]

How about this for an application, the cells are so light that they can form the skin of a hydrogen lofted blimp with enough surface area to run all of it's payload and convert it's water ballast to hydrogen to allow for buoyancy control. The reverse process of ballast recovery uses a hydrogen/oxygen fuel cell so that no water is lost in total, and additional power is generated. What we are talking about here is mid to upper stratosphere cruising blimps with an endurance measured in years. e.g. Project Loon type communications networks. These are particularly important as they can be deployed very quickly if our communications satellites are destroyed by a solar flare and we can't put more of them up quickly because the dead ones also triggered a space junk collision cascade.

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.

Re:How damage resistant is it?

[MightyMartian]

Space craft should also use oil and coal, like Jesus would want. Jesus despises renewables, and anyone advocating them will go to Hell, after they've been thoroughly beaten by God-fearing fossil fuel advocates. Remember, God loves fossil fuels, and will make advocates of other energy sources pay for eternity.

Re:How damage resistant is it?

[Anonymous Coward]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Plumbbob#Propulsion_of_steel_plate_cap