New iJET Solar Cell is as Easy to Make as Pizza
An Australian scientist has developed a new method of manufacturing solar cells using nothing more than some nail polish remover, a pizza oven and a standard inkjet printer.
The iJET technique is so easy and cheap to carry out that it could revolutionize access to solar technology in the developing world.
In a recent radio interview (audio), Nicole Kuepper, a 23 year-old PhD student at the University of New South Wales, explained the process.
Firstly, she takes a standard silicon solar cell and sprays it with a substance similar to nail polish. Then, she inkjet prints something like nail polish remover onto the wafer in a set pattern in the same way that you’d print a normal photo. This enables the creation of high-resolution patterns on the cell at a very low cost. The cell is then metallized with an aluminum spray and baked at a very low temperature of around 550 fahrenheit in “something like a pizza oven.”
Kuepper went on to explain how solar cells are currently manufactured using expensive “high-tech, high-cleanliness equipment,” too costly for many countries in the developing world, adding, “we’re trying to do away with all of that so that so we can ensure that these solar cells can actually be manufactured in a developing country’s environment that you might find in say Ghana or Laos for example.”
Image Credit - Mulad via flickr.com on a Creative Commons license
Well, there are a ton of ways to make cheap solar cells. What this article does not discuss is the efficiency. These “expensive” process turn out cells with a MAXIMUM of %12-15 efficiency. That is pretty low considering how much money as gone into their development. So, if you’re talking about printing these and you get %1 or %2 efficiency is it really worth it?
For argument’s sake:
A 1′x1′ array @ %15 efficiency is equal to a 12′x 12′ array @ %1 efficieny.
Try putting a 12×12 array on top of a mud hut.
/just sayin
Sounds like a technology I’d like to see come to market. I was confused a little by the first step you mention in your article, since the article is about manufacturing solar cells.
“Firstly, she takes a standard silicon solar cell”
Where do you get the first silicon solar cell to start from? Is that something that can be manufactured easily in developing countries?
“Firstly, she takes a standard silicon solar cell and …”
What is standard silicon solar cell? If it is standard silicon solar cell making voltage then what are next stupid tasks for?
You say she “takes a standard silicon solar cell” well, duh. It seems the hard work is already complete once you get that far, no? So how’s the effciency? How long do they last? What’s the yield?
We need to get these kind of projects off the ground before the government finds reasons that we won’t be allowed to do it.
@ Nate
Hi - there’s some more information on the process (and its creator) in this video clip:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=W8eNeReo-hw
“Firstly, she takes a standard silicon solar cell and sprays it with a substance similar to nail polish”
Maybe I don’t understand it but that’s like saying how to become a millionaire:
“First, you get a million dollars”
I would be very interested to know the output of the cell. Is it higher then a traditional cell?
I don’t get it. She makes solar cells cheaper than the standard solar cells by a process that uses as its first ingredient … standard solar cells?
If you already have the “standard silicon solar cell”, why don’t you stop at that step? The article fails to explain this basic point.
“…Firstly, she takes a standard silicon solar cell and sprays it ….”
So the text at the begining should be: “An Australian scientist has developed a new method of manufacturing solar cells using nothing more than A STANDARD SILICON SOLAR CELL, some nail polish remover, a pizza oven and a standard inkjet printer.”