A research team claim to have made a solar cell containing ruthenium that can be produced cheaper and cleaner and is so thin that it can be woven into products of almost any shape and size including clothes, hats and bags.

Traditionally, solar cells are plate shaped and require complex manufacturing and processing and can be expensive to create but a team from the Peking University claim to have made a cell that is very small and almost angle independent.

According to reports from Noteworthy Chemistry, the team led by D. Zou use metal wires as electrodes avoiding the need for indium tin oxide (ITO) glass.

The cells can be made on an ordinary lab bench meaning costs are reduced because there is no need for a vacuum or a clean room.

In the military it is thought that the solar cells would be used as power sources by soldiers as well as ropes, netting, helmets and tents meaning that everything they carry could be a source of power.

Source:

Anything might be a solar cell: your clothing, your hat, your bag, 03/03/08
http://portal.acs.org/portal/acs/corg/content?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=PP_ARTICLEMAIN&node_id=840&content_id=WPCP_008328&use_sec=true&sec_url_var=region1

© Adfero Ltd