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In 2011, the Royal Society of Chemistry reported on a working, pocket-sized solar torch built to demonstrate organic photovoltaic technology. Sixteen series-connected polymer solar cells charged a battery that powered a white LED. The device combined those cells with printed circuitry and a flexible lithium-polymer battery—an integration milestone, not evidence of a currently available product.
What was the pocket-sized solar torch?
The demonstrator was a portable lamp developed by scientists from Denmark, the Netherlands and the United States. It used organic, or polymer, solar cells to collect light and charge an onboard battery; that battery then powered a white LED. The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) described the work in a report published on 10 August 2011.
At the time, organic and polymer solar cells were reaching a stage at which they could be manufactured commercially using roll-to-roll methods. The torch showed how photovoltaic material could be integrated into a functioning object alongside other printed and flexible components. It was not a comparison of modern solar flashlights.
How the torch worked
Sixteen cells charged a battery
The RSC account says the device contained 16 solar cells connected in series. They charged a battery, which supplied power to the white LED. The report does not give a battery capacity, charging time, light-output rating or exact operating duration.
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Printed and flexible components were integrated
Making the lamp involved 35 production steps, according to the RSC. The process brought together the polymer solar cell, printed circuitry and flexible lithium-polymer batteries. That combination—not a stated brightness or charging specification—was central to the demonstrator’s significance: it showed these components assembled into an operational portable device.
What the 2011 report said about performance and production
The RSC article reports an “89 per cent yield” and says the torch operated for hours at a time. It does not define “yield,” specify test conditions or give an exact number of operating hours. The 89 per cent figure should therefore not be read as solar-cell conversion efficiency or treated as a directly comparable product specification.
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The account also says 10,000 units had already been made, describing the scale as a first for a complex device commercialised at that level. These are claims in the RSC’s 2011 report, not current production or availability figures. Examples were handed out at the Large area Organic and Printed Electronics Conference (LOPE-C).
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The torch offered evidence that polymer solar cells could function outside a laboratory when integrated into a usable device. Frederik Krebs of the Technical University of Denmark, Roskilde, said: “Even if the flashlight is far from solving the world’s energy problem, it clearly demonstrates that polymer solar cells are capable of fairing outside the laboratory and can be made available to the public in an operational device.”
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The RSC also identified durability as an unresolved challenge. Krebs and his team were then working on polymer solar cells with longer operational lifespans that could work outdoors for years. That statement describes the challenge as presented in 2011; it does not establish the current state of OPV durability.
John Reynolds, an expert in conducting polymers at the University of Florida, noted a broader potential beyond lighting: “While the OPV powered lamp demonstrated in this work shows how this technology can be used in regions of the world where direct access to electricity by conventional sources is difficult, the methods developed will have a broader impact in the field of printable organic electronics in general,”
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Is this torch available today?
The 2011 RSC account does not establish whether this particular demonstrator is available today, nor does it describe current models built the same way. It provides no contemporary prices, brightness ratings, battery capacities, charging times or warranties. A present-day solar-powered flashlight should not be assumed to use organic photovoltaics or to match the demonstrator’s construction or reported figures.
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1Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesThe RSC report is Jane Hordern’s account, “A solar torch to fit in your back pocket,” published on 10 August 2011. It links the work to the paper by Frederik C. Krebs and co-authors, “The OE-A OPV demonstrator anno domini 2011,” in Energy & Environmental Science (2011), DOI: 10.1039/c1ee01891d. Read the Royal Society of Chemistry report for the original account.
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