Inexpensive solar cells in Japan

Japanese companies Gunze and Dai Nippon Printing are each developing new technologies to produce low-cost solar cells and both companies plan to commercialize their solar cells by 2010.

Gunze, a major underwear maker, focuses on low-end solar cells that can be used to power smaller electronic appliances or in-store ad displays. Their cells will use a bendable and flexible film that coated with special pigments, as a power source. One of the products that the company is thinking about offering is the baseball caps with built-in solar cells to power portable audio players.

Dai Nippon, one of the largest printing companies, will also soon producing solar cells at low cost by using its own printing machines. The solar cells are covered by a plastic sheet coated by a pigment membrane with a 3.5% energy conversion rate. The company says their technology can serve as an auxiliary power source when integrated into the covers of notebooks and plans to sell their solar cells to computer hardware manufacturers.