An ultra-thin organic solar cell: the future of solar energy

Japanese scientists create a new, ultra-thin and efficient organic solar cell. It can be adhered to fabrics and used to charge portable devices

It’s five in the afternoon and your cell phone is about to run out of battery. You open your pocket and take out a foldable plate. Using a cable, it allows you to charge your smartphone using the sun’s energy.

Until recently, this scenario seemed more like the imagination than reality. Now it seems to be close to becoming commonplace.

Researchers at the Riken center in Japan, together with the textile manufacturer Toray, have created a new ultra-thin organic solar cell. And it happens to be the most efficient to date.

A revolutionary organic solar cell

With a thickness of three micrometers (one thousandth of a millimeter), this organic solar cell can withstand temperatures close to 100 degrees Celsius and has an energy conversion efficiency of 10%. The highest achieved to date, as reported by the group in a press release.

This discovery has all the makings of becoming a true technological revolution. The applicability of these solar cells is very diverse.

Thus, laptops, tablets, and smartphones seem to be the main beneficiaries of textile cells. But, beyond everyday objects like these, these cells can provide a real boost to the solar panels themselves. This is especially due to the commendable increase in the energy conversion ratio.

Furthermore, hospitals and tents could be other beneficiaries of this new textile technology. More than anything because their location can arise in places without access to the electrical grid.

Structure of an ordinary solar cell

The challenge of degradation

But despite all the benefits, the organic solar cell has a major obstacle to its consolidation: its degradation due to environmental factors. Thus, the technology that can banish external batteries suffers rapid deterioration caused by elements such as water or oxygen. A challenge that researchers are trying to solve with the aim of launching a prototype by the beginning of the 2020s.

Thus, the aforementioned group of Japanese scientists has developed a polymer capable of reducing cell deterioration by 20% under atmospheric conditions.