In fact, using inkjet technology to make solar panels could mean a new generation of thinner, and more productive, cells is created.
Because inkjet technology is contact-less – the printer does not touch paper when it prints out – is also a good thing.
It is thought inkjets could eventually replace the current way to manufacture solar cells – screen printing, which is becoming outmoded.
"Inkjet is very good at putting down patterned material – anything that has a specific layout," Maikel van Hest, a scientist at the National Centre for Photovoltaics at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in the US, told the website’s Adam Hadhazy.
Recently, a discussion on book publishing, hosted by Kodak, pinpointed inkjets as a way to drive down costs in the industry.