English

Scientists have developed a solar cell that can bend and soak in water

67
2024-05-08 15:48:46
See translation

Researchers and their partners at the RIEKN Creative Physical Science Research Center have created a flexible and waterproof organic photovoltaic film. This innovative thin film can integrate solar cells into clothing, maintaining functionality even in rainwater or washing cycles.

One of the potential uses of organic photovoltaic technology is to manufacture wearable electronic devices that can be attached to clothing, such as monitoring medical devices without the need for battery replacement. However, researchers have found that achieving waterproofing without the use of additional layers is very difficult, as the additional layer reduces the flexibility of the film.

Breakthroughs in Photovoltaic Technology
Now, a group of scientists publishing research results in Nature Communications can precisely achieve this. The challenge they face is overcoming a key limitation of previous equipment, which is that it is difficult to make it waterproof without reducing flexibility. Photovoltaic films typically consist of several layers. One layer is the active layer, which captures energy of a certain wavelength from sunlight and uses this energy to separate electrons and "electron holes" into cathodes and anodes. Then, electrons and holes can be reconnected through circuits to generate electrical energy. In previous devices, the layers for transmitting electron holes were usually generated sequentially through a layered approach.

But in the current work, researchers deposit the anode layer (in this case, the silver electrode) directly onto the active layer, thereby forming better adhesion between layers. They used a hot annealing process to expose the film to air at 85 degrees Celsius for 24 hours. The first author of the paper, Xiong Sixing, said, "Forming a thin film layer is very challenging, but we are pleased to have completed this task and ultimately be able to produce a thin film with a thickness of only 3 microns. We look forward to seeing the test results."

The results seen by the group from the test are very encouraging. Firstly, they completely immersed the film in water for four hours and found that its performance still had 89% of its initial performance. Then, they stretched the film 30% underwater 300 times and found that even with such punishment, the film still maintained 96% performance. In the final test, they placed the film in the washing machine for cyclic washing, and the film withstood the test, which was unprecedented before.

One of the corresponding authors of the paper, Kenjiro Fukuda, said, "What we have created is a method that can be widely used. Looking ahead, by improving the stability of the device in other aspects, such as exposure to air, strong light, and mechanical stress, we plan to further develop our ultra-thin organic solar cells to enable them to be used in truly practical wearable devices."

Source: sciechdaily

Related Recommendations
  • Laser printing on fallen leaves can produce sensors for medical and laboratory use

    The manufacturing of sensors through 3D printing combines speed, design freedom, and the possibility of using waste as a substrate. In the circular economy model, various results have been achieved, and typically discarded residues are used as low-cost resources. A research team in Brazil has proposed a highly creative solution that involves printing electrochemical sensors on fallen leaves. The t...

    2024-05-16
    See translation
  • Scientists demonstrate powerful UV-visible infrared full-spectrum laser

    Figure: a. Schematic diagram of the HCF-LN-CPPLN experimental setup. W. CaF? Window M, mirror.b. The bright white light circular spots emitted by the CPPLN sample.c. The first-order diffraction beam of B displays a colorful rainbow pattern from purple to red.d. The HCF-LN-CPPLN module generates normalized spectra of the output full spectrum laser signal through the second NL HHG and third NL SPM e...

    2023-08-25
    See translation
  • New photon avalanche nanoparticles may usher in the next generation of optical computers

    A research team led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), Columbia University, and Autonomous University of Madrid has successfully developed a novel optical computing material using photon avalanche nanoparticles. This breakthrough achievement was recently published in the journal Nature Photonics, paving the way for the manufacture of optical memory and transistors at the nano...

    02-28
    See translation
  • DIT and SK Hynix sign KRW 20.52 billion agreement

    Recently, DIT, a well-known semiconductor and display equipment manufacturer in South Korea, announced that the company has signed an agreement worth 20.52 billion Korean won to supply wafer processing equipment to SK Hynix. According to DIT, the equipment supplied to SK Hynix this time is mainly a laser annealing kit. DIT was founded in 2005 and was listed on KOSDAQ in 2018. Its main focus is o...

    01-20
    See translation
  • The LANL Laboratory in the United States has achieved a light source that generates a circularly polarized single photon stream using a quantum light emitter

    Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) has developed a method for a quantum light emitter that stacks two different atomically thin materials together to achieve a light source that produces a stream of circularly polarized single photons. These light sources can in turn be used for a variety of quantum information and communication applications.According to Los Alamos researcher Han Htoon, the wor...

    2023-09-02
    See translation