Solar engineering: dye-sensitised solar cell technology is reaching the mass market

Solar engineering: dye-sensitised solar cell technology is reaching the mass market Dye-sensitised solar cell technology is about to make a commercial breakthrough. The module manufacturer G24 Innovations (G24i) has announced that the first ever commercial shipment of dye-sensitised solar cells to a product manufacturer. The bag manufacturer Mascotte Industrial Associates will be using them to produce a range of backpacks as well as notebook, camera and other bags that can charge various mobile electronic devices thanks to integrated solar modules. This means that the solar cells, which are also known as "Grätzel cells" after their inventor – the chemist Michael Grätzel, who works at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), are now reaching the mass market.

According to the manufacturer, the G24i modules can harvest energy not only outdoors but also in low, diffuse light conditions indoors. They will be used in the Mascotte bags to charge various devices like mobile phones, e-book readers, cameras and notebooks. More detailed information about how long an iPod, for example, needs to be charged with the backpack to play an album is not unfortunately available yet. "Our goal is to deliver the future of mobile energy by personalising solar power", is at any rate what G24i CEO John Hartnett has to say. The partnership with Mascotte is scheduled to be just the first step towards widespread use of Grätzel cells. "Our modules can easily be integrated in a wide variety of consumer products and offer significant potential for cost reduction and enhanced value, as well as lowering the carbon footprint generated by such products", Hartnett stresses.

G24i acquired a licence to manufacture dye-sensitised solar cells in 2006 and now produces them in a reel-to-reel process. Technology inventor Grätzel offers his congratulations to the G24i team "for overcoming the numerous challenging technical problems to produce flexible dye-sensitised solar cells for commercial clients in a reel-to-reel process for the first time." The chemist, who was born in Germany, invented the Grätzel cell at the beginning of the 90s and was awarded a Balzan Prize for it this year. The technology is considered very promising – partly because of the potentially inexpensive and relatively environmentally sound production operations involved – but was beset with stability and durability problems for a long time.

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