Solar cells printed on paper may make power more portable

The next generation of solar cells may be printed on ordinary paper.
Engineers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have created ultrathin paper cells that gather enough juice to power an LCD clock and can be glued to a briefcase, stapled to a hat or folded into a pocket. The research is a first step toward a cheap and lightweight source of renewable energy that, within two years, may be used for everything from charging an iPad to warming up clothing, researchers said.
"Rather than confining solar power to rooftops or solar farms, paper photovoltaics can be used virtually anywhere, making energy ubiquitous," said Karen Gleason, associate dean of engineering research at MIT in Cambridge, Mass., and leader of the team that produced the cells.

Paper cells would have the potential to create a new market based on the popularity of low- power electronic devices that are now mostly fed by batteries, such as mobile phones