Paint on solar panels may be the way of the future

At the University of Swansea Materials Research Centre, Dr Dave Worsley is researching into new ideas of creating new solar cells, using paint on a flexible steel surface currently in use for cladding buildings.

Dr Worsely explained, “We have been collaborating with the steel industry for decades, but have tended to focus our attention on improving the long-term durability and corrosion-resistance of the steel’.

One of Dr Worsley’s students was researching into theories of how sunlight and paint interact to find out how sunlight degrades paint. Which then led scientists into the idea of developing, ‘photovoltaic’ methods of capturing solar energy.

These new materials now under development at Swansea University are different from conventional solar cells in that they are far more efficient in capturing ‘low light’ radiation. Which basically means, unlike conventional solar panels, the new paint is capable of gathering the energy of sunlight, even in the British climate.

Dr Worsley, has obtained research grant from the Welsh Governments energy research center, allowing them to work in collaboration with steel company Corus. With an eye to studying, the feasibility of the development of highly efficient solar cells that can be applied as a paint to steel building products.

The successful study then led to a three year project with a £1.5 million/$3 million budget. Swansea University is now collaborating with fellow Welsh scientists at Bangor University as well several other educational institutions with wishing to develop a commercially viable photovoltaic product for use in steel/energy production.

With the new process, paint would be applied in several layers to sheet steel during manufacturing. Scientists believe that painting of these solar cells onto flexible and bendable steel surfaces is very viable.

Dr Worsley and many in the steel and paint industries believe that the potential for such a flexible product could be immense. He stated, “Corus Colours produces around 100 million square metres of steel building cladding a year. If this was treated with the photovoltaic material, and assuming a conservative 5% energy conversion rate, then we could be looking at generating 4,500 gigawatts of electricity through the solar cells annually. That’s the equivalent output of roughly 50 wind farms.”