DIY: Print Inkjet Solar Panels

With new printing technology advancing, soon we may be able to print on a special polymer material to produce solar panels. These eco-printers will use organic compounds to paint nanotubes onto polymer via a process developed from inkjet printing.

These solar panel print-outs could be applied to a roof, car windows, or virtually anywhere a solar panel would fit and gather sunlight.

An inkjet printer is capable of more than paper, we have blogged about printing on 3D, printing out in 3D, and printing on fabric. Now the inkjet printer can transform a polymer material into an energy-creating panel.

Developed at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, this new printing technique is not yet available.