[From this article at themindunleashed.org] “The days of bulky, expensive solar panels that were heavy and required harsh chemicals to produce and a lot of labor to install may be coming to an end. Scientists in Australia have been able to produce the largest ever printed solar cells using a newly developed solar cell printer. Yes, they are printing solar cells.
The cells are flexible, cheap, and made from organic plastics and materials.
According to scientist Dr Scott Watkins, printing cells on such a large scale opens up a huge range of possibilities for pilot applications:
‘There are so many things we can do with cells this size[…]We can set them into advertising signage, powering lights and other interactive elements. We can even embed them into laptop cases to provide backup power for the machine inside.'”
[From this article at the abc] “Australian solar power scientists are one step closer to making available a cheaper and faster way to print solar cells onto plastic.
CSIRO’s senior research scientist Dr Fiona Scholes said the technology was almost at the commercialisation stage and could be used to power laptops to rooftops.
“iPad covers, laptop bags, skins of iPhone – not just for casing electronics but to collect some energy as well and power those electronics,” Dr Scholes said.
The Victorian Organic Solar Cell Consortium behind the project comprises scientists from the CSIRO and the Melbourne and Monash universities who have been working on printing solar cells since 2007.”
![[Image Via themindunleashed.org]](https://themindunleashed.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/orgaopanel.jpg)
