April 29th, 2007
A solar cell 10 inches wide and 50 feet long? Yes, one is being produced at the University of Delaware.
According to this report, the University of Delaware's Institute of Energy Conversion (IEC) has churned out a breakthrough process that will manufacture flexible solar cells. The result is a decrease in production cost and an increase in possible applications.
The solar cell sheets are manufactured from copper-indium-gallium-diselinide or CIGS on a 10-inch wide polymer web. This thin film technology is as efficient as silicon-based solar cells but because of the flexibility, the applications for these solar cells are wider.