This week, a team from the University of Washington announced that they are making progress in the area of organic solar cells. Specifically, the team reports that it can now make images of the microscopic bubbles and channels that form in the polymers used to make such cells as they are heated.
By studying the images that are created, scientists are able to gain better insight into the energy efficiency of the materials in question. The images are said to be about 10,000 times smaller than a human hair.
Scientists are trying to develop solar cells from plastics that will be able to turn at least 10 percent of absorbed energy into electricity while also remaining easy to manufacture. Such a product would be able to greatly reduce the overall cost of solar energy, bringing it more in line with the cost of fossil fuels.
One use currently being envisioned for so-called nanostructured plastic solar cells is to be placed into purses and backpacks for tasks like recharging cell phones or mp3 players.
