Researchers are working on ultra-thin solar cells that could provide contintuous charging for future ... [+]
Researchers from Stanford University have been working on novel, ultra-thin solar cell technology that could be applied to aerospace, architecture, electric vehicles and wearable electronics, where lightweight, high power per weight and flexibility are necessary.
In the December 2021 issue of Nature Communications, co-author, Koosha Nassiri Nazif, from the Department of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University, said that the team used emerging transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), which have excellent electrical and optical properties.
“This makes them great candidates for next-generation electronics and solar cells (photovoltaics),” said Nassiri Nazif. “Chipmakers like Intel and the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company are already considering TMDs for their future technology to keep Moore’s law alive and make more powerful chips in smaller form factors to be used in future consumer electronics.”
Nassiri Nazif says the benefit of having ultra-thin solar cells minimizes the material usage and cost and makes TMD solar cells lightweight and flexible to be molded into irregular shapes like a car roof, an airplane wing, a smartwatch band, or even the human body.
“In simple terms, this would enable the integration of solar cells into everything - something that is not possible with the bulky, rigid silicon solar cells that currently constitute 95% of the solar cell market,” said Nassiri Nazif. “This is why we aren’t seeing these applications for solar cells today; TMDs are going to change the landscape.”
According to Nassiri Nazif, ultrathin, flexible TMD solar cells would enable indoor and outdoor seamless light energy harvesting, continuous charging, and power for our future wearable electronic devices and IoT sensors. “This will give consumers more battery life or eliminate the need for manually charging batteries.”
Alwin Daus, co-author of the paper, says other examples include a self-powered augmented reality/virtual reality smart lens powered by embedded transparent TMD solar cells or biosensors on your body that monitor your vital signs 24/7. “IoT sensors could also potentially eliminate the need to change batteries, which is essential for scaling up IoT sensors to trillions of units.”
“They could also provide more power that would enable edge computing - rather than just sensing and sending the data - necessary for immediate response time in large IoT networks such as smart cities,” said Nassiri Nazif. “And they can be applied to autonomous drones that could power themselves with a lightweight solar array atop their wings.”
