A solar panel that can be rolled into a roll is created in Korea

Engineers at Pusan National University in Korea have developed a prototype solar cell,

which can be fully folded. In recent years, flexible solar cells have been in the trend of scientific development. They are usually made from thin-film materials such as graphene, tungsten diselenide, or gallium indium selenide (CIGS), deposited on flexible substrates such as polymers or even paper.The result is a solar cell that can be bent to some extent.

But until they can completely fold in half,without breaking. Although many electronic devices have already mastered this ability: for example, the Samsung Galaxy Fold smartphones, which can open and close like a book.

“Unlike purely flexible electronics, foldablethe devices are subject to much more severe deformations, with a folding radius of only 0.5 mm, ”says Professor Il Chong, author of the study. "This is not possible with conventional ultra-thin glass substrates and transparent metal oxide conductors, which can be made flexible but never fold."

To solve this problem, researchersturned to conducting films from single-walled carbon nanotubes. They embedded this film onto a substrate and then doped it with molybdenum oxide to improve its conductivity.

The researchers were able to make a solar cellthickness of only 7 microns, which could fold down to a radius of only 0.5 mm. The element was able to withstand more than 10,000 folding cycles without breakage. They, of course, also worked well as solar cells, showing an energy conversion efficiency of 15.2% and a transparency of 80%.

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