Solar paint?

Soon, the only tool needed to combat climate change could be a paintbrush. 

No more need for costly solar panels. The Corus Group, a Dutch steel company, has developed a way to paint solar cells right onto steel at the time of manufacture. 

Photovoltaic cells are the things in solar panels which generate a current or voltage when exposed to visible light. In other words, they’re what make a solar panel convert the sun into energy. Photovoltaic paint is a whole new type of ‘sun screen.’

The company says its paint is made into a liquid paste containing a layer of dye and a layer of electrolytes. Four coats of paint would need to be applied in total— an undercoat, a layer of dye-sensitized solar cells, a layer of electrolyte or titanium dioxide as white paint pigment and finally a protective film.

The solar technology is much like a plant’s photosynthesis and this boundary-pushing invention could have production starting by 2012. 

It means that one day all building surfaces that come into contact with the sun have the potential to become a photovoltaic surface. What is really exciting is the potential for deployment on a mass scale. Made possible because the paint would cost less than a solar cell, providing clean solar electricity at a low cost.

There would also be the added advantage for cloudier climates since the painted steel would be more efficient at capturing low radiation light than conventional solar cells.

Someday all your buildings could be three sheets to the sun.