Elastic Dry-Type Solar Cell Rubber with Photovoltaics and Piezoelectricity for Compressive Sensing

• Main Author: Kunio Shimada
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2017-11-01
• Series: Proceedings
• Subjects: solar cell; piezoelectricity; natural rubber
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2504-3900/2/3/112

Ordinary solar cells are too hard to bend, squash by compression, or extend by tensile strength. However, if it were possible to have elastic, flexible and extensible properties, as well as piezoelectricity, that material would be useful and effective for the artificial skin installed over a human-like robot. It could serve as a husk that generates electric power from solar energy, and perceives any force or temperature changes. To realize an elastic solar cell, in this study we develop a novel solar cell made of natural rubber and electrolytically polymerized with a configuration of magnetic clusters of metal particles by adding a magnetic field. The material corresponds to the MCF rubber we developed as an elastic, flexible, and extensible sensor made of natural rubber. The MCF rubber solar cell is dry-type one. The changing of its photovoltaics by irradiation of visible light was measured under the compression.