Toronto scientists print up glass solar cells

A research group at the University of Toronto is working on technology that could pave the way to printable solar cells. Traditional solar cells are relatively expensive to produce because they use highly pure crystalline silicon material that is processed at temperatures that exceed 1,000° C.

The high temperatures and energy required to produce traditional solar cells account for at least part of the cost of the finished solar cells. The new technique relies on perovskite solar cells. Perovskite solar cells use a layer of nanoscopically small glass crystals, which could be included in a printable ink, provided that there’s a way to collect excited electrons and move them into a circuit. Read more