News » "It shows very promising

CANBERRA Shea Weber Canadiens Jersey , July 21 (Xinhua) -- Australian scientists have successfully used household sticky tape to help build ultra-thin and lightweight solar cells that could improve the way solar energy is collected.


Solar cells are used to collect energy from the sun to convert into electrical power for portable devices such as lights, radios and computers.


Scientists at the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra used sticky tape to create single-atom thick layers, termed phosphorene, in the construction of the cells. This was done in the same simple way as the Nobel Prize winning discovery of graphene.


Unlike graphene, phosphorene works as a semiconductor but is thinner and lighter than silicon which is the basis of current electronics technology.


"Because phosphorene is so thin and light, it creates possibilities for making lots of interesting devices, such as LEDs or solar cells," said lead researcher Dr Yuerui (Larry) Lu, from ANU.


"It shows very promising light emission properties."


Lu said the household tape was used to peel thinner and thinner layers of crystals from the black crystalline form of phosphorus.