Solar cells on paper have the potential to be inexpensive and portable due to several unique features of the substrate: paper is cheap, flexible, lightweight, biodegradable, and manufactured by roll-to-roll processing. Here, we report the first nanocrystal photovoltaic devices (PVs) made on paper. Using spray-deposited CuInSe2 nanocrystals as the absorber material on substrates composed of bacterial cellulose nanofibers synthesized by the microorganism Gluconacetobacter hansenii, these devices demonstrate exceptional electrical and mechanical integrity. There is no significant loss in PV device performance after more than 100 flexes to 5 mm radius, and the devices continue to perform when folded into a crease. The practical use of these paper PVs is demonstrated with a prototype device powering liquid crystal displays (LCDs) mounted to various kinds of surfaces.

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Patent-Bot is an artificial intelligence (AI) software program that learns language from the patent database to write original patents for submission to the United States Patent Office (USPTO). The program creates thousands of new patent summaries per second. Patent-Bot is itself a piece of intellectual property, which in turn exists to generate more intellectual property. Patent-Bot also invents new words in relation to its future concepts, which appear to test the current linguistic limits of innovation and communication. Patent-Bot was debuted as an interactive art installation in the Omnibus Filing exhibition at the Visual Arts Center, University of Texas at Austin. Omnibus Filing showcased artworks, inventions, prototypes and cross-disciplinary research projects undertaken by teams of scientists, artists and engineers. Patent-Bot has since exhibited at Piksel 17: A festival for Elektronisk Kunst og fri Teknologi, in Lydgalleriet, Bergen, Norway. The project is an ongoing collaboration between the authors spanning a variety of exhibition formats and modes of display.