Inkjet Printable Solar Panels
 

Nicole Kuepper`s Inkjet-Printed Solar Cells: The World’s Cheapest | Solar Power | The Green Optimistic

A girl in Australia has invented the cheapest solar panels anyone can build. Using a modified inkjet and strange paint and ink.

The question is, can anyone here who is an Assie or knows one get specifics on this so everyone can duplicate it and reduce the control of our irritating oil controlled government system?

I hope this isn't suppressed like other things I have seen that held great promise. She needs to be tracked down and the specifics shared before it goes into the black hole these type of things seem to end up in. Man do I hate Cobasys!

Sorry if this is a repost, It doesn't appear anyone has posted this prior.

Cheers
Ryan

Hi Ryan,

Looks promising! Where did you see the $0.05 cost?

.05 was a bit optimistic but according to another forum (which shall remain nameless) the main cost was the silicon and the rest was generally available as waste around you or in your garage/cabinets at home. :)

I would guess the heat source would also be another cost.

In any event being capable of building solar panels at home literally would drop the cost of ownership by taking labor costs out of the equation.

Now to figure out how to contact her so her materials are known just in case her tech gets bought out or supressed. This would liberate people all over the world.

Cheers
Ryan

Hi,

I wonder how it differs from NanoSolar? They also use a "inkjet" method, but it seems to be a continuous coating (no divided cells) and they are hoping to hit $1/watt. What does this cell produce, I wonder?

Hello -

Don't know about the cost, but this sounds like a logical progression of similar stuff :

Epson prints 1mm thick circuit boards on an inkjet - Engadget

Circuit Board Etching

Make Your Own Printed Circuit Boards on a Laserjet!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urv6jArKp6M

Flexible E-Paper on Its Way

How to Make Printed Circuit Boards

I know of at least one company that wanted to use printer technology to make things like disposeable "LCD Newspapers" :

The Electronic Paper Chase

CarloSW2

It differs in that the claims surrounding this story state that a person can do it at home with home chemicals and materials with a modified inkjet.

My guess is the cells probably are not very efficient or very durable.

But on the flip side they are very cheap even with the lack of efficiency, somewhat along the lines of the gentleman who invented the solar "PAINT" for homes that hasn't materialized.

We will have to wait to see if anyone can find her and convince her to post what materials she was using, another site I belong to plans on attempting to replicate it into a DIY.

Nicole Kuepper - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Allegedly called the iJET concept... she's a PhD, and it looks like she wants to commercialize... I doubt she'll share the materials, process and probably most important - the etch pattern...

Thanx for the link, that is probably enough to start generating a DIY.

Also commercialization is Not bloody likely, in the current times these type of technoligies rarely see the light of day. And generally if they do make it to production fail regardless of merit.