Tech Developed for Flexible Solar Cells 1/20 as Thick of a Human Hair

The Korea Electronics Technology Institute (KETI) and the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) announced on Oct. 5 that they successfully developed a technology to make solar cells with 1/20^th of the thickness of a human hair that can be attached to a curved space and be folded tens of thousands times.

The newly-developed flexible solar cell is widely acknowledged to have extreme flexibility and minimum efficiency reduction. At a thickness of 0.04 mm, this cell loses less than 5 percent efficiency and be effective at up to 7.4 percent while being folded.

The tech is expected to be widely usable in developing components for a variety of wearable devices such as OLED electrodes and optical, tactile, and olfactory sensors, or as an element in flexible electronic devices. In addition, the method can be utilized as the source of energy by attaching a flexible solar cell to clothes or a windshield.

Dr. Kim Jong-woong, who leads the research team at KETI, explained, “Our research team was able to develop a new element like a flexible solar cell by fusing the latent property of metal nanowires, such as silver nanowires that were secured during the research, in other fields.” He added, “We will continue to conduct research in an effort to commercialize the technology, like large area process technology.”

The research findings were first published online in Aug. by Advanced Functional Materials, a scientific journal published by Wiley-VCH.