Scientists have shown ultra-thin photovoltaic cells, so flexible that they can bend and wrap around small objects like a pencil.
The photovoltaics these could be placed due to their flexibility in fabrics, in glasses and fed with electric streams various electronic items, such as trackers, medical devices, smart glasses, etc.
According to Kon Jongho Lee, engineer at Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology in South Korea, their thickness is about 1 micrometer, much thinner than the thickness of a medium human hair.
The researchers made these ultra-thin solar cells from gallium arsenide semiconductors. The cells are imprinted onto a flexible substrate without the use of an adhesive.
The energy efficiency of the new photovoltaic is comparable to that of a much thicker photovoltaic. Photovoltaic film can be rolled around an object as thin as 1,2mm, such as photo at the beginning of this article.
