Ultra-Thin Solar Cells To Power Wearable Technology, Coming Soon

Solar cells are believed to have been developed by a team of engineers at the South Korea's Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology. According to reports, the solar cells would have the capacity to power smart glasses, fitness trackers and other types of wearable technology.

The ultra-thin, bendable solar cells are flexible enough that it can be wrapped around an average-sized pencil through a technology called photovoltaic. As explained by engineer Jongho Lee, they used a special technique that enables it to become flexible and thin while requiring only fewer materials.  The details on the latest breakthrough is written in the journal Applied Physics Letters.

The solar cell is about one micrometer thick or thinner compared to the human hair. By contrast, the ordinary photovoltaics are typically several hundred times thicker. In fact, other types of thin cells are at least twice its size. The material's thinness is making it easier to flex due to having fewer materials at the far ends of the central plane compared to the thicker photovoltaic sheets.

The team of engineers built the solar cells from gallium arsenide, which is a semiconducting material, and fixed them directly onto the flexible substrate without the use of an adhesive. As explained by the team, adhesives will add to the thickness of the material, Physics.Org reported.

Moreover, the team also examined the cells and discovered that only 25 percent of strain is experienced, which is also the same with solar cells that are 3.5 micrometers thick. According to Lee, these new photovoltaics are less fragile when bent, yet perform the same or even in a better way. He also said that although the other researchers have been successful with solar cells that are about one micrometer thick, these new cells are developed under a novel new technique. Instead of using an etching method to eliminate the whole substrate, the team which is led by GIST, used transfer printing to build extremely flexible photovoltaics while only fewer materials are used.

The new solar cells are so flexible and thin that they are expected to be used in the frames of smart glasses and the fabrics that are used to produce wearable technology, according to Science.