MIT Researchers Print Solar Cells On Paper

With everybody trying to go green nowadays, there is a demand for solar technology, and now the researchers at MIT have come up with some interesting tech that allows them to create solar cells thin enough to be stuck on sheets of paper. To make things even better, the process involves coating the piece of paper with organic semiconductor material using a process similar to that of an inkjet printer. The downside is that the cells are currently just under 2% efficient at converting sunlight into energy, compared to the commercial panels out there that can be over 20% efficient. But if development goes well, we’re really looking forward to having solar cells on almost anything that sees the sun. It’ll take time of course, and the director of the project has said that it usually takes about 10 years from the time of invention to commercializing it, so we’ll need to be patient (or invent a time machine).