As the power demands of gaming continue to increase, renewable energy becomes even more important.And not just from an environmental point of view, having solar panels in my house is half the reason why I can afford to run all the weird electronic gadgets. It may even be possible to harness the energy (opens in new tab)The tech homes of the future are undoubtedly powered at least partially by solar energy. And now that future has come to fabric.
Researcher at MIT (opens in new tab) We have developed a paper-thin solar cell that can be added to any surface. Thanks to its lightweight and flexible nature, this means fabric that has the potential to open up a world of possibilities. Wearables that never need to be charged, battery jackets, self-powered tents, real boats. Think of solar sails, etc. Of course, there are some hurdles that must be overcome first.
The biggest is protection. Think of solar cells like a limp sun mage who needs someone playing a tank or some sort of protective barrier to protect against literally everything. Usually this is done with thick glass, which is clearly not ideal for flexible panels, so the team is still working on solving this problem.
“Covering these solar cells with heavy glass, as is standard for traditional silicon solar cells, would minimize the value of current advances, so the team is currently working to reduce the weight of current ultra-light devices by a fraction of the MIT research scientist Jeremiah Mwaura explains:
“We are committed to removing as much non-solar-active material as possible while maintaining the form factor and performance of these ultralight and flexible solar structures. This is comparable to the process we use to manufacture the other layers of the device, which will accelerate the transition of this technology to the market,” he added.
Otherwise, these cells are seen as very promising steps in solar cell technology. Not only is it thin and light enough to be laminated to almost any surface, but it also offers a significant cost-effectiveness in terms of power return. So far, tests have shown that they produce about 18 times more power per kilogram than regular solar cells, but this varies with fabric and cover.
Although protection from the elements is required, the cells appear to be very durable when it comes to flexibility and use. Retained over 90% of capacity.
And perhaps the most important thing about this new technology is that it is scalable. We’ve seen very small solars before, but they’re often made by expensive processes that can only be used in experiments. These modules use a process similar to screen printing a T-shirt.
As with all technology that excites me so much, there is no time frame for when we can expect it to be used commercially. I’ve been longing for graphene batteries (opens in new tab) Many years will work well with these flexible panels.
