EUROPE

New materials in solar power research

THE next generation of photovoltaic cells could see them incorporated into textiles, foils and flexible plastics, providing countless new opportunities for proponents of solar power.

Konarka Technologies has announced joint research with a leading Swiss university to develop new photovoltaic technologies that will allow clothing to be able to generate power. Konarka recently received a $US500,000 grant from America's National Science Foundation to improve the performance of its flexible light-activated power plastic solar material.

In contrast to the possible day-to-day uses of textile-like solar materials, Daystar Technologies is producing a high efficiency copper indium gallium diselenide solar cell film that is layered on to a light titanium foil.

The "Lightfoil" has produced 1440 Watts of power during laboratory testing and is able to convert 15.2% of the sunlight that hits it into electricity, roughly 50% ahead of comparable thin solar cells. The light and flexible design makes it particularly suited to high altitude aircraft or space vehicles, two markets Daystar hopes to have a significant uptake of "Lightfoil" when manufacturing begins

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