Featured in Catching the sun – 03-2010

Photovoltaic glitter

Microcells: Scientists at the U.S. Sandia National Laboratories have developed tiny glitter-sized photovoltaic cells that could revolutionize the way solar energy is collected and used. These micron-sized cells hold the potential for a variety of new PV applications. Sandia labs expect that the technology could be ready for commercial production in three to five years.

By

pv magazine

16 Sep 2010

Rather than requiring solar cells to grow across an entire wafer and then discard it if imperfections develop, Sandia has found that smaller is better. Sandia’s micron-sized crystalline silicon photovoltaic cells are 14-20 microns wide and measure 250 to 1,000 microns in diameter. (A human hair is approximately 100 microns wide.) Each cell is formed …

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