BioSolar announces the Production of BioBackSheet

           BioSolar Inc., a manufacturing company specialized in creating solar panel components, has discovered a technological technique that can help improve solar panels in a drastic way. Solar photovoltaic panels are originally equipped with a clear lamination coating, known as a backsheet, which protects the sensitive solar cells underneath. Generally, this coating would be developed from non-biodegradeable petroleum-based plastic and glass. However, BioSolar has developed a product, BioBackSheet, which is the coating made from cotton and castor beans.
          In some cases, while trying to use renewable energy resources, it can develop waste or pollution when creating and harvesting them. For instance, solar panels have increasingly been used and had produced an extreme amount of toxic and pollution, created by the production of the traditional backsheet. With this problematic issue, BioSolar has developed a solution, whereas a new era in solar power collection may be dawning in that materials, used to harvest energy, will be as clean as its energy source.
           To develop the BioBackSheet, BioSolar processes and uses cotton rags to provide the strength needed to withstand the harsh outdoor environment. Castor beans provide resin, which after processing, can be used to create a material similar to nylon. When combined, the result is a transparent material very similar to currently produced backsheets, excluding the use of petroleum-based materials. BioSolar notes that backsheets are easy to produce, cost-efficient, and are toxic-free from the chemicals needed to traditionally produce backsheets. BioSolar also remarks that the newly produced product has a high degree of thermal conductivity and has electromagnetic properties equivalent to conventional materials as well as the mechanical strength and stability needed for solar panel applications--all in addition to the obvious advantages of using a biodegradable material for manufacturing purposes, particularly as a component in a so-called "green" technology.
           The reason for late widespread adoption of the new biodegradable backsheet can possibly be because of the availability of the caster seeds, which are not grown in the United States due to its natural state being toxic and highly allergenic. For this reason and others, other research efforts are undergoing development in creating caster seeds that do not produce any negative effect.

Brazilian-made Plastic Solar Panels

       Brazilians emphasize upon increasing their knowledge in terms of green technology research and have concluded to discover and develop plastic solar panels, which can help revolutionize power generation from such an amazing source of energy.

Tiago Maranhao Alves holding a strip of newly developed plastic solar panel

      This solar panel may seem like it is a thin sheet of plastic, but it is actually a solar panel covered with photovoltaic cells, which converts sunlight into electricity. Unlike other heavy and costly silicon-based solar panels commonly used in society today, this plastic solar panel was created by scientists at CSEM Brazil, a research institute in the southeastern state of Brazil, Minas Gerais.
      These solar panels are similar to transparent sheets of plastic with stripes where they printed with carbon-based organic polymers, in that they were made by incorporating organic photovoltaic cells into common polymers. The technology to produce the organic photovoltaic cells has been studied in Europe and the United States, but Brazil has made further development usage pertaining to the technology.
      "While the capacity for power generation is almost the same, its small size means that it can be given uses that are impossible for silicon panels," said Tiago Maranhao Alves, chairman of CSEM Brazil and physical engineer who directly participated in the research. This material is able to power electrical components of automobiles and in electronic devices such as mobile phones, wireless keyboards and mice. "A panel with a surface of two or three square feet meters can be sufficient to generate the energy needed in a house lived by a family of four," Alves also remarked.
       Transportation is also an advantage of the solar panels, compared to the common silicon-based panels. "Because they are easy to transport, logical costs are lower. In addition, people can take them with them when they move to a new home," Alves noted. The plastic solar panel is able to be used in covering buildings and venues like airports and sports stadiums, avoiding the need to set aside an area for installation of the silicon panels.