energy – Australian Science

Printed solar cells as easy to produce as t-shirts!

Markus — Thu, 27 Jun 2013 00:05:43 +0000

Australia is really taking the initiative in alternative energy production. The latest news is that a consortium of Australian researchers have succeeded in producing printable solar cells, in a process which might just have the potential to revolutionise solar power production across the continent. Perhaps, we can only hope, the world.

Succinctly, a new printer which has been installed at CSIRO is capable of printing solar cells the size of A3 sheets of paper – the largest ever created. Printing onto sheets of flexible plastic, it can produce these at a rate of 10 metres per minute (one new and fully functioning solar cell every 2 seconds!), and those cells can produce between 10-50 Watts per square metre, dependent upon how much light they receive. Oh, and the best part? The printer uses no brand new or special technology. In fact, it’s not a lot different to mass producing printed t-shirts!

The group responsible refer to themselves as the Victorian Organic Solar Cell Consortium (VICOSC), and they’re made up of a collaboration between CSIRO, The University of Melbourne, and Monash University, together with a handful of industry partners. Over the past 3 years, they’ve been working on printing solar panels. Starting with a cell the size of a human thumbnail, they’ve scaled their way up to larger and larger sizes. And they have plans. Big plans.

Dr David Jones, Professor Andrew Holmes and Dr Scott Watkins, three of the researchers involved, together with one of their printed solar cells.

I mentioned a little while ago in my article about wind power, that I’m a keen advocate of alternative energy. This is because, and let’s be frank here, energy based on crude oil is not sustainable in the long term. I could list dozens of reasons why this is the case, not least of which is the fact that oil reserves are limited. But the biggest factor is pollution. We really need to start taking better care of this world.

Australia, it has to be said, receives one thing in abundance. Sunlight. Developing solar power seems like something of a no brainer, especially for more isolated areas. In fact though, the Earth receives a staggering amount of solar energy constantly.

Sunlight hitting Earth carries with it approximately 174 petawatts (174,000,000,000,000,000 watts!) of power. Of course, for the most part we’ll never be able to harvest it. Around 30% is immediately reflected back into space (which is good, because otherwise our planet would boil). But if we could harvest just 0.01% of the solar energy hitting our planet, we would have more power than the entirety of human civilisation can currently use!

Realistically, powering everything on our world with solar power may not be feasible. But a significant fraction of global energy needs could be easily met with solar power – particularly in areas which receive a lot of sunlight. Areas like much of Australia. The new techniques developed by VICOSC could make solar energy much more accessible to the world at large.

Firstly, the printing techniques they use are familiar to us all. Essentially, it’s much the same as screen printing – except that they use semiconductive inks which can be printed onto either flexible plastic or steel, dependent on where precisely they’re needed. Even better, the group are currently researching new non-chorinated solvents to use, making the entire operation even more environmentally sound!

The newly installed solar cell printer at CSIRO.

While the new printer at CSIRO to produce these solar cells cost a total of A$200,000, the future component costs are tiny. These printed energy collectors work out at a price of just A$1 per watt! Needless to say, this is a huge improvement over any solar panels the market can currently offer.

The group suggest a couple of particularly interesting uses for their printed solar cells. For a start, they can actually be used to improve the efficiency of existing solar cells. The two technologies absorb sunlight at different wavelengths. This means that the same area of solar cell could be able to effectively collect twice the power.

Even more dramatically, there are plans to further scale up the printing equipment they’ve used (because why not, right?) and create much larger cells. These could be laminated onto the windows of large buildings like skyscrapers, making any city into its own power plant. Effectively a single typical skyscraper (for example, the Century Tower in Sydney) could “generate” over 100 kilowatts of power just by standing there.

The new printed solar cells aren’t quite ready to be released to the public just yet. But it sounds like they might be soon. Currently, they’re still undergoing tests. To date, they have a theoretical maximum power of 80 watts per square metre, and the cells currently being produced have a lifetime of over 6 months.

The current goal is to raise their useable lifetime to 2 years. But of course, given how ambitious VICOSC have been so far, I doubt they’ll stop there. Maybe we should start thinking about taking the word “alternative” out of “alternative energy”.

Image credits: CSIRO/VICOSC

Cite this article:
Hammonds M (2013-06-27 00:05:43). Printed solar cells as easy to produce as t-shirts!. Australian Science. Retrieved: May 04, 2024, from http://australianscience.com.au/environmental-science/printed-solar-cells-as-easy-to-produce-as-t-shirts/

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Australia’s National Science Agency – Focused on the Future

Kelly Burnes — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 00:44:20 +0000

I find myself spending a lot of time thinking about the future of our society and planet – how we can solve problems of today and prevent those of tomorrow. Quite often I draw up battle plans on scrap paper in preparation for those policy battles we don’t even know exist yet, those looming around the corner. Thinking I knew the CSIRO website in and out, you can imagine my delight when I stumbled upon CSIRO Futures. This forward thinking, strategic planning group is dedicated to helping government and industry make the tough, and smart, choices that will be critical given our uncertain future.

Wanting to learn more about this group’s work and impact, I reached out to Dr Stefan Hajkowicz, the Theme Leader for CSIRO Futures. This is our digital conversation about science, education, energy, and what Australia must do to secure its future.

Can you provide some historical background on CSIRO Futures? What was the impetus for the creation of this unit? How and when did it come about?

The birth of CSIRO Futures was somewhat serendipitous. In 2009 we started a small internal think-piece to inform CSIRO strategic planning. It wasn’t ever intended for the outside world. However, at a major Industry and Government conference in Melbourne a video link to Boston Consulting Group (BCG) broke down. That was our lucky break. Someone from BCG was going to deliver a talk on “megatrends”. When the video link broke I was asked to step in and cover the session with our own homegrown megatrends. The audience loved the fact this work was also being done down-under and we subsequently received heaps of offers to present the work in boardrooms and at conference keynotes. We later received requests to do foresight research/consulting projects for industry sectors. So that’s when we set up CSIRO Futures. It’s now running pretty well. We’ve delivered a bunch of projects and more are in the pipeline. Our aim is to inform, engage and from time-to-time entertain.

Can you describe your role as theme leader at CSIRO and the impact this role has had (or will have) on the future of science?

This is an interesting role in CSIRO. In fact – I love it. I was appointed in July 2012 and it’s been fascinating and productive. This role is having impact in many ways. One way is that it’s making science accessible to people in industry, government and the community. For many people CSIRO means evidence-based, robust and well-researched information. When the CSIRO logo is mixed with imaginative stories about the future of the world there’s much interest. The aim is to mix science fact with science fiction to inform people’s decision making.

The report “Our Future World: Global megatrends that will change the way we live

Cite this article:
Burnes K (2013-02-06 00:44:20). Australia’s National Science Agency – Focused on the Future. Australian Science. Retrieved: May 04, 2024, from http://australianscience.com.au/news/australias-national-science-agency-focused-on-the-future/
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The Future of Energy

Kelly Burnes — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 00:09:18 +0000

The 7th Annual MIT Energy Conference held March 16-17 in Boston, MA, was an all-around inspiring event filled with conversations of hot topic scientific research and intense policy discussion. It was impressive, considering this event is entirely planned and executed by the student body, with well over 500 in attendance. From the scientific prowess of the professors working on new energy technologies, the caliber of executives leading the charge on the corporate front, to the undergraduate and graduate students pursuing their dreams to engineer a better tomorrow for society, we are indeed poised to see a radical transformation in both the technology and the policies of the energy sector.

‘Insight and Innovation in Uncertain Times’ could not have been a more appropriately named theme for the conference. The whole MIT community understands and embraces the challenges that lie ahead. And they are committed to finding solutions that include sustainable and renewable energy. The realization that we must commit to being better environmental stewards moving forward was a message that resonated throughout the panel discussions. It was enlightening to hear many of the large corporations such as BP, GE and Shell, understand the need to reduce their carbon footprint, lower their GHG emissions, and develop clean technology to power a changing world.

Biofuels, LNG, CNG, shale gas, nuclear, wind, solar, hydro – all these energy sources were highlighted throughout the day in conversations and presentations. Because it’s not just going to be one type of energy that we rely on for power; it’s going to be a combination of several, an energy portfolio that keeps the lights on and the cars rolling down the highway. And it may be different from one municipality, or a state, to another. Community planners have a big role to play in terms of energy. Many expressed the need for their seat at the table of discussion on global warming at the conference. It appears communities are starting to grasp that we must connect these three pillars – the social, economic and environmental. It is this type of holistic thinking and long-term planning, that will put not only the United States, but other countries who adopt these approaches, on the path to a secure, clean, energy future.

An energy policy is difficult to implement anywhere; to be sure, this is no small feat. But unless countries attempt to craft a decision-making framework for implementing an energy policy, progress will continue to be haltered. For the past 30 years, the US has not had a sound energy plan. Sure, the Energy Policy Acts of 1992 and 2005 were notable. But the time is ripe with the myriad of technologies we now possess to start implementing a comprehensive plan. The very nature of public policy is incremental and iterative; define the problem, identify criteria, list alternatives, analyze, evaluate, implement. If something doesn’t check out, repeat process. Mistakes will be made; it is the ability to think fast and correct those mistakes that we will learn and find the solutions needed to drive us forward. By 2050, the global population will be 9 billion. Think about that. We will have to figure out how to move that extraordinary number of people and the goods they require, safely and responsibly. Can we pull it off while being environmentally conscious at the same time? We really have no other option.

I believe that option will be met courtesy of universities such as MIT, along with corporations and policymakers partnering in innovative ways. I would also be remiss if I didn’t add it was refreshing to see so many women at the event, from students, to researchers, to corporate executives. The energy frontier is open for women to conquer, from the lab bench to the boardroom. From scientists, to policymakers, to venture capitalists, women can carve their niche in the sustainable energy field. You’ve heard the saying, “the future of tomorrow begins with today.

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