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March 3, 2021 When you picture solar power, chances are you conjure up images of large solar panels spanning the length of a rooftop or a large solar farm out in a field. But what if you could put a solar panel in the sunroof of a hybrid car, on a tent or within the windows of an office building? What if you could power a vaccine refrigerator in a remote place with a flexible solar panel that could be shipped in a mailing tube? These are just a few possible applications of a relatively new technology known as organic solar cells (OSCs) — new, at least, when compared with silicon solar technology, which has been around since the 1950s.

Like traditional silicon solar technology, OSCs turn the sun’s energy into usable electricity. But they are far more versatile than conventional solar photovoltaics. OSCs are lightweight and flexible and can be made to be semitransparent or in various colors. These qualities give them potential applications for textile, vehicle and building-integrated solar cells, and for creating power in areas where it does not exist.