Look at a strand of your hair and examine its width. Now imagine something only one-fiftieth as wide — that’s how thin this solar cell is. A new invention from MIT, it’s the thinnest, lightest solar cell ever been produced. It’s so damn thin, researchers float it on soap bubbles to show off.
The researchers behind the cell say it could be put on anything — a smartphone, helium balloon, a space craft, paper. If it’s not clear why you may want to put a solar cell on paper, MIT offers this response: It’s not the researchers’ job to limit the cell’s possibilities. You do you.
“It could be so light that you don’t even know it’s there, on your shirt or on your notebook,” MIT professor Vladimir Bulovic, the lead researcher, said in a news release. “These cells could simply be an add-on to existing structures.”
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