Textile-Based Solar Cells

To allow direct human access to mobile electronics, their integration into textiles is very attractive because of the ruggedness and flexibihty of textiles and hence 

As a conductive textile electrode, Shieldex , an Ag-coated polyamide yarn produced by Statex Produktions Vertriebs GmbH (Bremen, Germany) represented 

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Shtein M. (2008), Toward textile-based solar cells, SPIE Newsroom, Ml. 

Functional fibres, filaments and yams are the basic building blocks of electrotextiles. The textile industry has demonstrated a remarkable capability to incorporate both natural and man-made filaments into yarns and fabrics to satisfy a wide range of physical parameters which survive the manufacturing process and are tailored to specific application environments. Electronic components can be fabricated within and/or on the surface of filaments and can subsequently be processed into functional yams and woven into fabrics. Passive components such as resistors, capacitors and inductors can be fabricated in several different manners. Diodes and transistors can be made on long, thin, flat strands of silicon or formed in a coaxial way. Progress has been made in the development of fibre batteries and fibre-based solar cells. In addition, a variety of actuated materials (piezoelectric, etc.) can be made into multiple long strands (filaments) and subsequently be woven into fabric. 

Arbab, A.A., Sun, K.C., Sahito, lA., Qadir, M.B., Jeong, S.H., 2015. Multiwalled carbon nanotube coated polyester fabric as textile based flexible counter electrode for dye sensitized solar cell. Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 17,12957-12969. 

The ITO free hole collecting layer was realized using highly conductive solution of PEDOT PSS as a polymer anode that is more convenient for textile substrates in terms of flexibility, material cost, and fabrication processes compared with ITO material. Based on procedure described in reference 25 a sophisticated and simple design was presented to show how thin and flexible could be a solar cell panel. 

FTL Solar LLC Company based in Austin, Texas, developed tents and shelters with solar cells. Amorphous silicon flexible cells are integrated to textile stmctures. Those products are dedicated to military applications or shelters used in case of great catastrophes. 

The traditional solar cell geometry was reinvented in fractal forms that allow the building of structured modules by sewing the 25-40 cm cells realized. Figure 8 shows a step-by-step approach for fabrication textile solar cell pattern based on polymer photo absorbing layer. 

Bahners, T Schlosser, U. Gutmann, R. Schollmeyer, E. Textile solar light collectors based on models for polar bear hair. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells 2008,92, 1661-1667. 

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