Issue 49/2012 - Elastic silicon solar cell fabrics may be coming soon

Elastic silicon solar cell fabrics may be available soon

Recently, an international research team led by John Badding, a professor at Pennsylvania State University, has developed for the first time a silicon-based optical fiber
with a length of several meters and solar cell function.
The research made it possible
to interweave solar cell silicon cables to produce elastic solar cell fabrics.
The research was funded
by the National Science Foundation, the Institute of Materials Research at Pennsylvania State University, and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) in the United Kingdom.

The team's latest research builds on
early fiber-optic electronic chip-silicon-based integrated circuit fusion technology.
This fusion technology is different
from the previous technology that fuses planar chips with round optical fibers.
In this fusion technique, the researchers used a high-voltage chemistry technique that directly deposits semiconductor materials layer by layer into small holes in the fiber to build a new type of optical fiber
.
The new fiber has its own integrated electronic components, thus avoiding the problem of integrating the fiber with the electronic chip, and the new fiber is thinner
than a human hair.
This latest research uses this high-voltage chemical technology to prepare fibers
that can be used as solar cells from crystalline silicon semiconductor materials.

Professor Badding said: "Our goal is to expand the functionality of high-performance electronics and solar cells into longer, more flexible forms
.
Theoretically, this new method can prepare silicon solar cell fibers
longer than 10 meters and can be bend.
The fiber can be woven into fabrics for power
generation, battery charging, chemical sensing, and biomedical devices.
Solar cells based on elastic solar cell fabrics are lighter, more elastic, easy to carry and foldable, and can be worn on the body
.
The elastic solar cell fabric also has the advantage
of collecting light energy from different angles.
(Wei)