CSIRO's new printing facility could put a solar panel in your pocket

November 5, 2024 6:50 PM

CSIRO's new printing facility could put a solar panel in your pocket. Solar panels that can be printed out like newspapers and rolled up to fit in your pocket are one step closer thanks to a new development by Australian Government agency Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO).
posted by chariot pulled by cassowaries (3 comments total)

I'm happy that solar PV looks to be maintaining its astonishing downward cost trajectory, but the perovskite chemistry that these new panels use is lead-based as far as I know, and I'm not super pumped about lead compounds once again becoming widespread in Australian buildings.
posted by flabdablet at 10:00 PM on November 5, 2024

They're quite a few years away from going on buildings for a while. Apparently they don't think they're even close to the 15-25 year+ typical lifespan for silicon based panels (interview on Radio NZ today) and are still working out the printing process to be fault free (apparently even one small fault in any of the multiple layers can make the whole panel inoperable).

But yeah, looks like some great options for options where rigid panels can't work, particularly on vehicles I'd expect.
posted by many-things at 10:42 PM on November 5, 2024

Production-scale flexible panels would be a game-changer in the solar world in many ways. When they can get the longevity of such panels somewhere near rigid panels (and get the lead out, so to speak), someone is going to make a lot of money.
posted by dg at 1:41 AM on November 8, 2024