The Skinny on Solar Cells

Imagine a purse that can recharge a cell phone. Or a backpack that keeps your MP3 player running. If David Ginger of the University of Washington gets his way, these little trinkets are just the beginning.

Ginger is working at the super-small, nano-level to design carbon-based materials that can convert light to electricity. If he's successful, he'll be able to build cells from cheap plastics that will transform 10 percent or more of the sunlight they absorb into usable electricity.

His work is coming along nicely.

According to an article in Newswise, Ginger and his team have "found a way to make images of tiny bubbles and channels, roughly 10,000 times smaller than a human hair, inside plastic solar cells. These bubbles and channels form within the polymers as they are … [baking]."

While the plastics being tested right now are not ready for use on the large scale, Ginger says they're an important step along the way. Once an optimal process is developed for creating efficient energy-collecting polymers, the possibilities for their use are endless.

For instance: a cup that keeps coffee warm forever, an electric shaver that stays charged while you hike the Appalachian Trail, or a sweatshirt that becomes a toasty parka with the flick of a switch.

Photo courtesy of flickr.com via creativecommons.org.