IN THE NEWS

Solar Power Breakthrough

www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/10/051009202947.htm

SANTA FE — Imagine being able to paint your roof with enough alternative energy to heat and cool your home. What if soldiers in the field could carry an energy source in a roll of plastic wrap in their backpacks?

Sound like science fiction? Well, both are on the way to becoming reality because of solar research by a team of scientists from New Mexico State University and Wake Forest University.

“While traditional solar panels are made of silicon, which is expensive, brittle and shatters like glass, organic solar cells being developed are made of plastic that is relatively inexpensive, flexible, can be wrapped around structures or applied like paint”, said physicist Seamus Curran, head of the nanotechnology laboratory at NMSU.

The relatively low energy efficiency levels produced by organic solar cells have been a drawback. To be effective producers of energy, they must be able to convert 10% of the energy in sunlight to electricity. Typical silicon panels are about 12% energy conversion efficient. That level of energy conversion has been a difficult reach for researchers on organic solar technology, with many of them hitting about 3-4%. But the NMSU/Wake Forest team has achieved a solar energy efficiency level of 5.2%. 

“This means we are closer to making organic solar cells that are available on the market,” Curran said. “Conventional thinking has been that that landmark was at least a decade away. With this group’s research, it may be only four or five years before plastic solar cells are a reality for consumers”, Curran added.

“We need to look into alternative energy sources if the United States is to reduce its dependence on foreign sources,” the NMSU physics professor said.

New Mexico Economic Development Department Secretary, Rick Homans added, “This breakthrough pushes the state of New Mexico further ahead in the development of usable solar energy, a vital national resource. It combines two of the important clusters on which the state is focused: renewable energy and micro-nano systems, and underlines the strong research base of our state universities.”

A cheap, flexible plastic made of a polymer blend would revolutionize the solar market, Curran said.

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