Silicon Fiber-Optic Solar Cells Created; Thinner than Human Hair, US Military Expresses Interest for Clothing

Measuring thinner than a strand of human hair, scientists have created the first fiber-optic solar cell.

An international team of chemists, engineers, and physicists conducted the cell, silicon-based with solar-cell capabilities, with Penn State University Professor John Badding leading the pact.

The new research was essentially a continuation on earlier work in merging optical fibers with electronic chips with silicon-based circuits that were joined to function as building blocks for semiconductor electronic devices such as mobile phones, computers, and solar cells.

The international team set out a way to build a new type of optical fiber, even thinner than human hair, while maintaining the electronic component previously experimented. This was done by injecting semiconducting materials into the optical fibers, layer by layer.

By using the new technique, the scientists and researchers tested to make a solar cell that functions out of crystalline silicon semiconductor materials.

"Our goal is to extend high-performance electronic and solar-cell function to longer lengths and to more flexible forms," said Prof. Badding.

He later added, "Long, fiber-based solar cells give us the potential to do something we couldn't really do before: We can take the silicon fibers and weave them together into a fabric with a wide range of applications such as power generation, battery charging, chemical sensing, and biomedical devices."

"A solar cell is usually made from a glass or plastic substrate onto which hydrogenated amorphous silicon has been grown," said Badding. "Such a solar cell is created using an expensive piece of equipment called a PECVD reactor and the end result is something flat with little flexibility. But woven, fiber-based solar cells would be lightweight, flexible configurations that are portable, foldable, and even wearable."

The team believes the new solar cells can collect and carry light in different angles, but that would depend on the direction of the solar energy.

The University of Southampton's Pier J. A. Sazio stated the fiber material they created has a bandwidth of over 1.8 GHz.

The US military have reportedly expressed interest in weaving the threads for clothing purposes.

The findings are published online in the journal Advanced Materials as of Dec. 6, and will be printed on a future date. The National Science Foundation, Penn State's Materials Research Institute Nano Fabrication Network, and the United Kingdom's Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council funded the research.