Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Solar cells made through oil-and-water 'self-assembly'

 The approach made a device of 64,000 parts in three minutes. Solar cells made through oil-and-water 'self-assembly' BBC

By Jason Palmer
Science and technology reporter, BBC News

Researchers have demonstrated a simple, cheap way to create self-assembling electronic devices using a property crucial to salad dressings.

It uses the fact that oil- and water-based liquids do not mix, forming devices from components that align along the boundary between the two.

The idea joins a raft of approaches toward self-assembly, but lends itself particularly well to small components.

The work is reported in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Crucially, it could allow the large-scale assembly of high-quality electronic components on materials of just about any type, in contrast to "inkjet printed" electronics or some previous self-assembly techniques. …

The solar cell that builds itself

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