Sci/Tech Scientists develop ultra-thin solar cells, flexible enough to wrap a single hair.

[tom_mai78101]

Austrian and Japanese researchers on Wednesday unveiled solar cells thinner than a thread of spider silk that are flexible enough to be wrapped around a single human hair. The thin-film device, comprising electrodes on a plastic foil, is about 1.9 micrometers thick, a tenth the size of the thinnest solar cells currently available, the researchers said.

"The total thickness of this device is less than a typical thread of spider silk," the researchers said in a report carried by online science journal Nature Communications.

"Being ultra-thin means you don't feel its weight and it is elastic," said one of the researchers, Tsuyoshi Sekitani from the University of Tokyo.

"You could attach the device to your clothes like a badge to collect electricity (from the sun)... Elderly people who might want to wear sensors to monitor their health would not need to carry around batteries," Sekitani told AFP.

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[Fatmankev]

This is cool because the increased flexibility and malleability of the cells will allow for construction of larger solar cells that are much less prone to damage. The larger the cell, the better the conversion rate of solar energy into usable electricity. The only question is will the cost to produce such cells be worth it, or will these be more of a novelty thing?