Getting a charge out of solar “paint”
Have you seen those big, bulky, breakable photovoltaic cells that now collect the sun’s rays? Well, what if solar energy could be harnessed using tiny collectors that could be spray painted on a roof, a wall or even a window?
The science of converting sunlight into electrical energy is more than a century old, but the reality of doing it efficiently and affordably is ongoing.
“Not only does it involve fundamental science in terms of physics and chemistry, and in some cases biology, but there are major engineering challenges as well,” notes Brian Korgel, a nanomaterials chemist at the University of Texas at Austin.
