A solar battery that automatically recharges gadgets
A story in MIT’s Technology Review, written by yours truly, looks at progress in the development of solar batteries for small electronic devices. Researchers in Europe have paired together a thin-film organic (polymer) solar cell and a flexible polymer battery, with the end result being a super thin, flexible solar battery that can automatically recharge remote controls, sensors, and even mobile phones when exposed to indoor or natural light. The innovation emerges out of the European Polymer Solar Battery project, or EURO-PSB, which has been ongoing for three years and involves researchers from five different countries. Thin-film solar cell maker Konarka Technologies is behind the project, as is Germany battery maker VARTA-Microbattery, which contributed its PoLiFlex lithium-ion battery to the project. The researchers believe a commercial version of the solar battery could be on the market as early as next year, possibly through VARTA initially. Imagine, you can lose your charger and never have to worry about your battery again. Fascinating…
Tyler Hamilton is senior energy reporter and columnist for the Toronto Star, Canada's largest daily newspaper. In addition to this Clean Break blog, Tyler writes a weekly column of the same name that discusses trends, happenings and innovators in the cleantech market. This blog is a personal project started in April 2005. It is not an official blog of the newspaper. Tyler can be reached at tyler@cleanbreak.ca