The patent on the technology has been licensed to FiberCell, based in the Piedmont Triad Research Park of Winston-Salem, to develop a way to manufacture the cells. The company is producing its first large test cells.
These new solar cells are made from millions of miniscule plastic fibers that can collect sunlight at oblique angles. Flat-cell technology captures light primarily when the sun is directly above. Where a flat cell loses energy when the sun’s rays bounce off its shiny surface, the fiber-based design creates more surface area to confine the sun’s rays, trapping the light in the tiny fiber cans where it bounces around until it is absorbed almost completely.
Wake Forest University claims that its fiber cells could produce about twice as many kWh per day as standard flat cells.
