Dear Stoyanka,

Interesting topic you have brought, thank you. Yes I have read the article about the “Breakthrough energy coalition” as Bill Gates said. He has a wonderful insight of the future in proposing these three ideas which not only satisfy the energy need of the world but introduce emission free green energy penetration  and flexibility to exist all together.

Of course the idea of solar paint is very promising because of its nature. Since it is made from cheap materials, it will definitely be cheap power; the solar cells at nano scale in the paint can detect the invisible spectrum (infrared) unlike the conventional solar cells and can produce power in a cloudy days and this characteristics will make it a candidate to every where in the world (north-south pole,Alaska etc):  and as the material is still on the ongoing research, the efficiency will increase, and as a result will minimize the cost; as the solar energy is the abundant energy we have (The sun that reaches the Earth's surface delivers 10,000 times more energy than we consume) and using such technology on 0.1 % surface of the earth will replace our today energy demand with green energy.

You can think of any thing around, you can paint it and harness energy. You can paint your car operating with hydrogen fuel cell to charge battery. Your clothes comfortably can be factory painted to charge your portable devices. Building roofs, windows and walls can easily be painted. Ships, air crafts etc. Wow!, we are lucky we are living in this era of the future, don't you think?

Dear Samuel,

Thank you for your answer! You are right, there are amazing possibilities in this technology. 

It's strange that others are not thrilled at all by such future :-) 

Dear Stoyanka, I hope many will be impressed sooner or later with  the technology. But but do you have any information about the raw material  they use to fabricate the solar paint? We have to check its impact on the environment from prefabrication to the opration process.

Dear Samuel,

I do not have information about the material for the solar paint, but the question about its impact on the environment is really important. Its answer could limit the use of solar paint only on some objects - buildings surfaces, car surfaces, etc.?!

Stoyanka, I am sorry to have to offer a pessimistic answer, but solar paint as described is a nonsense. How do you get the electricity, if it generates any, out of the paint? The generation of electricity from solar energy is a complex process requiring carefully designed and manufactured materials, organised and arranged in precise fashion in a well defined structure. You don't get any of this if you just slosh paint on a surface. Each nanoparticle will generate electricity in an arbitrary direction and they will all cancel out. As soon as you start organising the alignment of particles you are back to an organised structure called a solar cell. Look at the interrnal structure of the photosynthetic machinery of living cells. Algae for example might look like paint, but on the molecular level it is anything but.

Solar panels from 3D printed solar ‘ink’:

http://www.inside3dp.com/researchers-3d-printed-solar-panels-will-soon-charge-phones/

Hi Stoyanka, this article is about flexible solar cells, not solar paint as it is commonly portrayed in the press. Solar paint seems to be a marvellous substance that you can paint your house with and have 240V AC appearing in your house wiring. While operationalising this process is not totally inconceivable, it is way way beyond anything that can be done at the moment.

I worked with the forerunner of Dyesol on dye sensitised solar cells (DSC) 20 years ago and we were using screen printed paint to produce the cells in large quantities. There are many issues with the technology however. By all means let researchers look at ways to make solar cells more cheaply but they will have to go a long way even to match the current price performance ratio of silicon.

May be this is close to solar paint: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/303875902_Dye-sensitized_solar_cells_with_inkjet-printed_dyes

Article Dye-sensitized solar cells with inkjet-printed dyes

Lucelo Technologies is Developing Solar Cells You Can Spread on Any Material

In the future, solar paint could completely revolutionize how we generate sustainable energy. Based out of Texas, Lucelo Technologies is working on solar cell production that allows every day materials from plastic bags and paper labels to be off-grid power-generating devices.

Lucelo Technologies is able to use solar paint on any surface because they don't require high temperature processing or vacuum techniques, according to Chief Scientist Taylor Harvey. He explains "it could open up new markets for solar where having a flexible, lightweight solar cell is needed." Like normal paint, the sprayable solar variety uses sunlight-absorbing nano-crystals instead of color.

http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/solar-paint

Scientists develop pioneering new spray-on solar cells

A team of scientists at the University of Sheffield is the first to fabricate perovskite solar cells using a spray-painting process – a discovery that could help cut the cost of solar electricity.

The two spray heads. Picture by Alex Barrows.

Experts from the University’s Department of Physics and Astronomy and Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering have previously used the spray-painting method to produce solar cells using organic semiconductors - but using perovskite is a major step forward.

Efficient organometal halide perovskite based photovoltaics were first demonstrated in 2012. They are now a very promising new material for solar cells as they combine high efficiency with low materials costs.

The spray-painting process wastes very little of the perovskite material and can be scaled to high volume manufacturing – similar to applying paint to cars and graphic printing.

Lead researcher Professor David Lidzey said: “There is a lot of excitement around perovskite based photovoltaics.

“Remarkably, this class of material offers the potential to combine the high performance of mature solar cell technologies with the low embedded energy costs of production of organic photovoltaics.”

While most solar cells are manufactured using energy intensive materials like silicon, perovskites, by comparison, requires much less energy to make. By spray-painting the perovskite layer in air the team hope the overall energy used to make a solar cell can be reduced further.

Professor Lidzey said: “The best certified efficiencies from organic solar cells are around 10 per cent.

“Perovskite cells now have efficiencies of up to 19 per cent. This is not so far behind that of silicon at 25 per cent - the material that dominates the world-wide solar market.”

He added: “The perovskite devices we have created still use similar structures to organic cells. What we have done is replace the key light absorbing layer - the organic layer - with a spray-painted perovskite.

“Using a perovskite absorber instead of an organic absorber gives a significant boost in terms of efficiency.”

The Sheffield team found that by spray-painting the perovskite they could make prototype solar cells with efficiency of up to 11 per cent.

Professor Lidzey said: “This study advances existing work where the perovskite layer has been deposited from solution using laboratory scale techniques. It’s a significant step towards efficient, low-cost solar cell devices made using high volume roll-to-roll processing methods.”

Solar power is becoming an increasingly important component of the world-wide renewables energy market and continues to grow at a remarkable rate despite the difficult economic environment.

Professor Lidzey said: “I believe that new thin-film photovoltaic technologies are going to have an important role to play in driving the uptake of solar-energy, and that perovskite based cells are emerging as likely thin-film candidates. “

https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/news/nr/spray-on-solar-cells-1.392919

Finally, I found lots of links related to "solar paints".

Thank you Stoyanka for initiating this discussion and everyone who participated.

I have found lots of info and links related to solar cell.