Peel and Stick Solar

Stanford scientists report manufacturing "peel and stick" thin-film solar cells (TFSC) with the efficiency of traditional solar cells.

A December 2012 paper published in Nature's preliminary research online publication, Scientific Reports announced Stanford researchers have developed a method to make thin-film solar cell (TFSC) stickers.

Now the solar industry is already making flexible TFSCs, but those TFSCs use a flexible substrate (like plastic), and flexible substrates limit fabrication temperatures and chemical processing. Such TFSCs are indeed flexible, but expensive, and lack the efficiency of traditional fabricated solar panels.

The new "peel and stick" TFSCs are thinner, lighter and can be stuck just about anywhere, and have the efficiency of traditional solar cells.