Flexible Solar Tiles Capture Artificial Light

Nov-08-16 The flexible solar tiles from the team at Virginia Tech can be used indoors to capture natural as well as artificial light.

The tiles are created via a low-temperature, screen-printing process that produces thin, palm-sized flexible panels each able to generate around 75 mW of power. (According to the team, a panel the size of a sheet of standard paper could recharge a smartphone.) The panels can be combined to form larger sheets for uses such as curtains or even wallpaper, and can absorb sunlight as well as the light from LED, incandescent, and fluorescent fixtures.

In addition to their applications in the home, the team believes the panels could one day be embedded in clothing, such as military uniforms or backpacks.

Image: Congcong Wu holds up a layer of the flexible solar panel

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[TREEHUGGER.COM]
[VTNEWS.VT.EDU]

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