Scientists have invented a solar cell as light as a soap bubble

Scientists have invented a solar cell as light as a soap bubble:

mindblowingscience:

Scientists have invented incredibly thin, flexible photovoltaic cells that are so lightweight, they can rest on top of soap bubbles without breaking them. Cells this thin and light could eventually be placed almost anywhere, from smart clothing to helium balloons.

“It could be so light that you don’t even know it’s there, on your shirt or on your notebook,” said one of the researchers, Vladimir Bulović from MIT. “These cells could simply be an add-on to existing structures.”

It’s that versatility that makes the experiment so exciting - even if it’s still only a proof-of-concept at this stage. Key to the creation of the new cell is the way the researchers have combined making the solar cell itself, the substrate that supports it, and its protective coating, all in one process.

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Awesome.

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thebeakerblog: skunkbear: Morocco just switched on a massive...

thebeakerblog:

skunkbear:

Morocco just switched on a massive solar power plant in the middle of the Sahara Desert. It’s called Noor I. When Noor II and Noor III are built next door, it will be the largest solar power production facility in the world.

Full story here.

Image credits: Fadel Senna/AFP/Getty Images, NASA

Fascinating! -Patrick

Why isn’t the US focusing more of our desert space on solar energy production?

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materialsscienceandengineering: Organic Photovoltaic Material...

materialsscienceandengineering:

Organic Photovoltaic Material Offers Great Promise for Solar Energy

Scientists at MIT believe modeling electron excitation in organic photovoltaic material could change the future of solar energy.

The semi-conducting plastic is lightweight, flexible, relatively inexpensive, and easy to make. The problem is that, unlike inorganic photovoltaic material, it is not very efficient or stable. But work by Adam Willard, an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry at MIT, has the potential to change that.

Willard is a theoretical chemist who uses modeling and simulation to study molecular systems. The goal of his research group is to explore and understand the fundamentals and consequences of molecular disorder — which lies at the heart of the challenge posed by organic photovoltaic material.

While organic photovoltaic films may appear smooth and homogeneous to the naked eye, they are extremely disordered at the molecular scale, where they appear as a giant tangle of unaligned molecules. That tangle makes it difficult to understand how electrons, when excited by photons, could more easily travel through the structure and reach an external electrode. Even understanding the behavior of a single electron is a challenge.

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Hopefully this can get into the market sooner rather than later.

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npr: kqedscience: Blooms occur when jellies reproduce en...

npr:

kqedscience:

Blooms occur when jellies reproduce en masse. They have caused worldwide disruptions to the fishing industry and nuclear power plants. 

The secret life of jellies. - Vesta

Jellyfish shut down nuclear power plants. Wow.

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