World’s first photovoltaic circuit invented

Boffins from the University of Pennsylvania have created a circuit that can power itself, as long as it’s left in a beam of sunlight.

A scientist from the University of Pennsylvania, Dawn Bonnell, who co-authored a recent ACS Nano paper, believes that she has created the world’s first photovoltaic circuit that eventually might power a new line of consumer devices.

Bonnell told “it has the potential to create a new generation of optical and electronic devices where the touchscreen of your computer could act as both the electrical charger and the computer chip.”

Bonnell has only managed to get small amounts of electricity from “photovoltaic circuits” and but near enough to power a computer yet. She thinks that this could be more improved in future. Right now only about 10 percent of the photovoltaic circuits on a glass screen work. Bonnell thinks that it might be possible to squeeze more electric power out of the device by stacking multiple layers of light-collecting and electricity-using circuits on device.