Photovoltaic Solar Textiles

Abstract

Solar cells are an option for powering active electronics on textiles, but should be fully integrated to avoid compromising the flexibility and handle of the basic fabric. Photovoltaic (PV) cells conventionally use rigid silicon wafers but there are also thin-film options, although some are sensitive to moisture and oxygen, and others require processing temperatures outside the range of most flexible materials. The coating on textiles is also influenced by the fabric’s texture, elasticity, and surface roughness. The demands of a flexible structure affect the choice of the other parts of PV cells, namely their electrical contacts and any encapsulation layers. The two alternative routes to a textile PV design are—(i) coat the fabric with successive layers needed to make a sandwich device, or (ii) coat individual yarns with these layers and then process them into a fabric, e.g., by weaving.

Amorphous Silicon Thin-Film Solar Cells on Fabrics as Large-Scale Detectors for Textile Personal Protective Equipment in Active Laser Safety

“…This configuration was used as the new standard or reference for further function testing. For initial tests and verification of the solar cell function on the laser protection fabric, the silver contact was replaced by a transparent indium tin oxide (ITO) contact ( Figure 9 c) for a few samples [ 34 ]. In Figure 8 a, solar cells on different substrate materials and laser protection fabric without the aluminum foil are compared.…”

Nanomaterials-patterned flexible electrodes for wearable health monitoring: a review

“…To minimize the rigid and bulky components from the devices, the self-powering capability is widely explored. Current research trends include triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG) [ 98 ], thermoelectric generator (TEG) [ 99 ], bacterial fuel cell [ 100 , 101 ], photovoltaics [ 102 ] textiles to power fabric devices; however, the low energy consumption of the devices is important to fabricate self-powered devices. Research on these parameters may ensure improved performance of the flexible fabric devices compatible with the available rigid consumer products.…”