From The Workbench - Alternative + Renewable Energy Blog Valuable information for do-it-yourselfers interested in the latest in alternative + renewable energy

Hello my Earth Saving Friends. Happy Monday, hopefully your weekend was a great one and you’re ready to face another week. We’re kicking off today with a post that made me all sorts of excited. How about some new solar cells that are reportedly as easy to make as a boxed pizza?! Yeah, count me in.

That’s right, according to the article I just read, “An Australian scientist has developed a new method of manufacturing solar cells using nothing more than some nail polish remover, a pizza oven and a standard inkjet printer.” What?! You heard right, and some experts are hoping and believing that this new method, if perfected, could be a way to provide cheap and easy access to solar power to people all over the world.

What is even crazier, Nicole Kuepper, the brains behind this new operation, is only 23 years old and a Phd student at the University of New South Wales. The process she uses, while this description is vague, shows just how inventive, and Easy the method could be. Here’s the jist of what goes down:

“Firstly, she takes a standard silicon solar cell and sprays it with a substance similar to nail polish. Then, she inkjet prints something like nail polish remover onto the wafer in a set pattern in the same way that you’d print a normal photo. This enables the creation of high-resolution patterns on the cell at a very low cost. The cell is then metallized with an aluminum spray and baked at a very low temperature of around 550 fahrenheit in “something like a pizza oven.””

Wow. Head over and check it out the new iJet technology and then head over to Northern Tool and check out our extensive line of affordable Solar Powered products!