Solar cells in a bottle?
Imagine this. It’s 2035. You’re at the beach and take out your solar cell bottle from your backpack. You spray it on your shirt, and connect your phone with a wire; it starts charging. Life is good.
Planet Earth. Currently with more than 7.8 billion people, a billion homes, and about 173,000 terawatts of the sun’s energy shining on our planet's surface; Every. Single. Day.
Thats more than 10,000 times the world’s total energy use in a day.
Most of our energy throughout the world is produced by natural gases and coal. We know these better alternatives exist, such as hydro 🌊 , wind 💨 , and solar ☀️, but the main source of energy comes from burning natural gases.
Imagine this. You take out a bottle and its labeled “solar cells”. You spray it on any surface and there you go! You now have a solar-powered “material name”. A spray or paint producing something as sophisticated as solar cells sounds like something out of a movie; but it might become a reality, sooner than you think 🛸.
Solar Cells
“So-lar” , Adjective; relating to or denoting energy derived from the sun’s rays.
Humans have been using the Sun’s energy for centuries now. From magnifying glasses used to make fire 🔥 — to Albert Einstien discovering the photoelectric effect (the emission of electrons when light hits a surface).
In 1954, photovoltaic cells were invented in the US 🇺🇸 . This was the first solar cell that was capable of converting the sun's energy into power for everyday uses.
Over the past decades, solar energy has always come in silicon material. Each silicon atom is connected with 4 strong bonds, keeping electrons in place.
Ever since they were created, silicon cells have been increasingly becoming more affordable 💵 and efficient 🤩. Most solar panels average around 14 percent to 18 percent efficiency (6% in 1954), and as low as $3 per watt ($300 per/w in 1956!).
Currently, solar energy only makes up 0.6% of electricity generated in Canada 🇨🇦 and just over 2% globally 🌐 . This is absolutely mindblowing! Instead of using an abundant energy source that humans have been exposed to for decades🗓 we have been burning gas and ruining our environment. But on the other hand ✋🏽, these numbers are definitely projected to exponentially grow worldwide about 50% in the next 5 years, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).
Here I will introduce, a concept even more captivating than before. A revolutionary material being developed by scientists, that could completely change the entire face of the solar industry…
Spray-on Solar Cells
The Breakdown
How exactly will these “spray-able” solar cells work?
The spray or paint cells will use nanotechnology. The cells are called quantum dots which are nanocrystals, composed of a semiconductor material that can follow the law of quantum mechanics.
Researchers have combined these quantum dots with polymers (materials made of long, repeating chains of molecules) to create a plastic composite, allowing them to be sprayed on other materials.
Adding onto these revolutionary cells, it will not only be able to utilize the sun’s visible rays, but also those outside the visible spectrum (the infrared spectrum 🤯). Basically, to sum it up, every living or nonliving thing that is warm gives out heat; which means that power remains in the infrared spectrum, even if it’s dark (I know, it's mind-blowing).
The plastic composite made using the unique polymer and quantum dots is capable of detecting this energy and putting it to usage!
Although previously researchers mentioned that these spray-on cells could only work on flat-objects, that is not the case anymore. Now in development is the way to spray them on curved objects, making them prone to any object. Furthermore, these cells could be used to coat literally anything. LITERALLY ANYTHING.
The possibilities for solar cells are endless. For instance:
- People could spray on these solar cells to the back of their laptops, music speakers, tech wearables, flashlights, A/C applications located outside of your home, and even where electrical power grids are unavailable!
In conclusion, we use electricity and technology every single day, and implementing spray solar cells in the future could really change the global perspective on solar energy.
The Future
The world — for the longest time — has believed and still has high hopes for solar. It’s amazing to think that this kind of potential in the solar industry might be closer than you’d expect.
As new developments are happening every single day, this is an extremely exciting time for the solar industry and its’ materialistic implementations. I believe that in the next 20 years, about 50–100 percent of the energy in the world can be produced by solar power.
Where do you think solar energy will bring us in the next 10–15 years?
