Solar-Cell Fabrics May Soon Be A Reality
Rather than merge a flat chip with a round optical fiber, the team found a way to build a new kind of optical fiber — which is thinner than the width of a human hair — with its own integrated electronic component, thereby bypassing the need to integrate fiber-optics with chips. To do this, they used high-pressure chemistry techniques to deposit semiconducting materials directly, layer by layer, into tiny holes in optical fibers.
Woven, fiber-based solar cells would be lightweight, flexible configurations that are portable, foldable and even wearable.The woven fibers could simply be connected to electronic devices, easily charging them on the go. “The military especially is interested in designing wearable power sources for soldiers in the field.Another major advantae of such fabrics would be their ability to use light simultaneously from various different angles, thanks to their flexible nature.
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