Bendy solar panels are just as good as regular ones

These star cells tin crook without breaking

Wenzhu Liu

Lightweight and bendy star cells that are conscionable arsenic businesslike arsenic accepted ones could massively grow nan usage of star power.

Most star cells successful usage coming are crystal silicon-based, acknowledgment to their precocious ratio and easiness of manufacture, but they tin only beryllium placed connected flat, fixed surfaces because they ace nether stress. Existing bendy star cells made from different materials connection an alternative, but astatine nan costs of overmuch little power efficiency.

Now, Wenzhu Liu astatine nan Chinese Academy of Sciences successful Shanghai and his colleagues person developed a thin, lightweight silicon-based compartment that is truthful elastic it tin wrap astir itself without losing immoderate efficiency.

The squad created nan compartment by first thinning a photovoltaic silicon wafer by much than 60 per cent, which makes it arsenic bendy arsenic paper, but besides reflective and truthful little efficient. Chemically treating nan aboveground to create microscopic, pyramid-shaped bumps restores this efficiency, but makes it brittle erstwhile bent – until Liu had an thought to hole that.

“One day, erstwhile I tore a integrative nutrient bag, nan mini notch connected nan bag’s separator inspired maine to inquire whether nan inclination of silicon cells to part pinch mechanical accent is caused by crisp notches connected nan edges of nan wafers,” he says.

After filming nan treated cells snapping successful slow motion, Liu and his squad realised that nan cracks would commencement astatine nan separator of a compartment successful channels betwixt nan pyramids. When they softened these channels and tried bending a cell, they recovered that tons of tiny, superficial cracks accumulated but nan compartment didn’t break, and it retained its efficiency.

The cells are ray capable to usage connected a drone

Wenzhu Liu et al. (2023)

The bendy cells tin beryllium easy fabricated utilizing existing silicon wafer techniques and, because they are 95 per cent lighter than rigid cells, could beryllium utilized connected walls without compromising building integrity. Liu and his squad tested nan cells successful utmost environments – specified arsenic astatine nan South Pole, connected a drone flying astatine an altitude of 20 kilometres and connected a balloon successful precocious upwind – and recovered they worked arsenic good and sometimes amended than rigid star cells.

Kyle Frohna astatine nan University of Cambridge says nan activity is very impressive. “It opens silicon up to a full different people of applications, immoderate of which we’ve thought of and immoderate of which we astir apt haven’t moreover thought of yet.”

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