Rolling Power.(thin-film flexible solar panel by Fuji Electric Systems)(Brief article)

Byline: Akiko Kashiwagi

Conventional solar panels, which turn sunlight into electricity, are made of crystallized silicon, the same material used in computer chips. But silicon is expensive and the panels are heavy. Engineers at Fuji Electric Systems, however, have developed a thin-film flexible solar panel. It's not the world's first, but it may be the most pliable--it bends like paper. At 1 kilogram per square meter, it weighs one tenth of conventional solar panels. That means it could be used in novel places--the roof of a tent, the walls of a building, vending ...