Energy harvesting textile woven into solar cells

PARIS – Japan-based Sphelar Power Corp. announced it has prototyped an energy harvesting textile with micro-spherical solar cells.

The textile structure is composed of warp and energy generating woof. The company said it has aligned and connected 1.2-mm Sphelar cells as a thread and woven them as a woof with supporting warp. The purpose was to develop a structure where photovoltaic module can be not only flexible but also expandable just like textile. 


Unlike conventional flat solar cells, Sphelar Power said micro spherical solar cell has spherical light-receiving surface. Sphelar is a micro spherical solar cell with electrodes in opposite sides. It captures rays from all directions and is less dependent on the angle of incoming light and more productive in terms of energy yield. Sphelar enables application of solar where conventional solar does not make any sense, noted the company.


The prototype resulted from an interdisciplinary collaboration between Sphelar Power, which developed the 3-dimensional light capturing Sphelar cells, and the Industrial Technology Center of Fukui Prefecture, which served as R&D hub for local textile industries.

Sphelar Power said it expects to start sampling next year.

Sphelar Power Corp. was founded in May 2012 as a spinoff from Kyosemi Corp.

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