{"id":108945,"date":"2009-12-28T16:31:44","date_gmt":"2009-12-28T21:31:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.discovermagazine.com\/80beats\/?p=8040"},"modified":"2009-12-28T16:31:44","modified_gmt":"2009-12-28T21:31:44","slug":"glitter-sized-solar-cells-could-be-woven-into-your-power-tie-80beats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/108945","title":{"rendered":"Glitter-Sized Solar Cells Could Be Woven Into Your Power Tie | 80beats"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"solar-microcells\"The newest big thing in solar power<\/a> is a set of solar panels so small that they could be mistaken for specks of glitter.<\/p>\n

Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories<\/a> have produced “microcells” that are thinner than a human hair, which are made from crystalline silicon and use 100 times less material to generate the same amount of electricity as standard solar cells made from 6-inch square solar wafers [Inhabitat<\/a>]<\/span>.<\/p>\n

What’s more, the tiny solar cells could be attached to flexible materials like plastic or cloth, letting inventors dream of a solar power tie that could recharge your cell phone, or a tent that could run electric lights at night.<\/p>\n

<\/span>Says lead researcher Greg Nielson: “With this technology, one can envision ubiquitous [solar-powered] devices.” … In the lab, these hexagonal microcells have achieved photovoltaic efficiencies of about 15 percent, denoting the percentage of light shone on them that is converted into harvestable electricity. High-end commercial-grade solar cells can reap about 20 percent currently, though Nielson thinks the microcells can more than match this [LiveScience<\/em><\/a>]. <\/span><\/p>\n

Even though the tiny solar panels are made of relatively expensive silicon rather than the cheaper materials being used in emerging thin film solar technologies, researchers say that mass-production of the microcells should keep costs low.<\/p>\n

Related Content:
\n80beats: Japan Pushes Forward on Plans for a Giant Solar Power Farm in Space<\/a>
\n80beats: Europe\u2019s Plan to Draw Solar Power From the Sahara Moves Ahead<\/a>
\n80beats: Solar Energy Company Offers Radical, Tubular Solar Panels<\/a>
\n80beats: Colorful Dyes Can Turn Regular Windows Into Solar Panels<\/a>
\nDISCOVER: Introducing the Most Efficient Solar Power in the World<\/a>
\nDISCOVER: Powering the Planet With Sun-Harnessing Balloons<\/a><\/p>\n

Image: Murat Okandan\/Sandia National Laboratories<\/em><\/p>\n

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The newest big thing in solar power is a set of solar panels so small that they could be mistaken for specks of glitter. Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories have produced “microcells” that are thinner than a human hair, which are made from crystalline silicon and use 100 times less material to generate the same […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":641,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-108945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/641"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108945"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108945\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}