If you like the idea of solar power but aren t convinced by expensive clunky solar panels just yet here s a more manageable option.
Printable paper solar panels.
They re using off the shelf desktop inkjet printers to print paper solar panels that can power small devices and wearable technology.
Then wafers of silicon are added to the surface and etched and electrical contacts.
Print your own on an inkjet.
Konarka technologies has just.
Scientists and researchers from various universities have developed technologies which use cyanobacteria to create a living ink.
Researchers at the king abdullah university of science and technology have developed solar panels that are thin enough to be printed with inkjet light enough to rest on a soap bubble.
The efficiency of these printable solar panels is still an issue since they are 10 times less efficient than most solar panels which are currently available on the market.
But some scientists say it will eventually be possible to print photovoltaic elements on a huge range of surfaces and materials creating cheap printable solar cells in place of more costly silicon panels.
It s a perfectly green and biodegradable source of renewable energy.
This will allow solar cells to be much cheaper and be placed almost anywhere.
A printer in the clayton office of csiro has made prototypes of the panels in order to work on the efficiency of the solar cells.
Low cost printable solar panels offer ray of hope amid energy gridlock australian physicist says technology could make signing up for energy accounts as easy as a mobile phone subscription.
Conventional ultrathin organic solar cells are typically made by spin coating or thermal evaporation with limits on scalability and device geometry.