A project funded by the Carbon Trust is to research the use of plastic solar cells.
The project is headed up by the University of Cambridge's Cavendish Laboratory in collaboration with The Technology Partnership.
The team has already developed a small prototype solar panel that can power a calculator. Research work will look at scaling up the technology and on manufacturing the cells in large sheets.
The project aim is to deploy more than 1GW of power using the new solar panels by 2017.
Sir Richard Friend, Cavendish Professor of Physics in the University of Cambridge, said: “We are delighted to work with The Technology Partnership and the Carbon Trust on solar energy. This is a timely opportunity to build on technology developed in the University, and we will capitalise on the local Cambridge strengths in taking science to manufacturing.”
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