Stick-on solar cells to power your home, iPod and mobile phones

Your home, mobile phones and even your iPod can be soon powered with the energy stored in plastic cells according to the latest research reports from Queensland. These new generation solar cells are made from moulded plastic and are smaller and cheaper compared to their silicon counterparts. This can be achieved in less than 3 years too. These cells can be stuck to windows like tinting or even embedded to roof materials which will turn the entire roof surface into a solar energy capturing device. This technology could easily power a car as well. The usage is unlimited and can be used even to charge your mobile phones and iPods.

The cost of producing energy with these plastic cells is $1 per watt which is just eighth of the cost of electricity stored in conventional solar cells. The good news is that this technology is very close to coming to the market. According to one of the researchers, Paul Burns, a very large deployment of this technology can be seen in the next two to three years. A $1.9 million grant that was received for this project will help to develop the project much faster than competition. The research team is pretty excited about this next generation technology.
[Brisbanetimes]