Flexible solar panels operate much the same way as more traditional framed crystalline solar panels. However, a special manufacturing process called “thin film deposition” allows them to be flexible.

Essentially, because the layer of silicon applied to a thin film panel is only micrometers thick (far thinner than a standard silicon crystal wafer), when it is applied to a flexible substrate, the silicon will flex or bend along with the substrate…creating a truly flexible solar panel.

Thin Film Manufacturing Process:

There are several advantages to the thin film manufacturing process, which are making flexible thin film solar panels more and more popular every day. The flexible solar panel manufacturing process allows the manufacturer to create large rolls of solar panels at a time, and then cut them later into smaller pieces for sale as individual panels based on the power output desired. This makes thin film more low-cost than their crystalline cousins.

Additionally, thin film flexible solar panels are lighter than mono-crystalline and poly-crystalline solar panels.

Their lightweight, rollable design makes thin film flexible solar panels ideal for many portable solar applications such as portable solar battery charging, portable solar lighting and much, much more.

In the Flexible Solar Panels Subcategory, you will find 12v Consumer Ready Panels, 12v Flexible Solar Panels, 3v-4v Flexible Solar Panels, 6v-7v Flexible Solar Panels, and a selection of Flexible Solar Panel Accessories. The 12v Consumer Ready Panels are available wattages ranging from 5 watts to 50 watts. The 12v Flexible Solar Panels offer large solar pads which allow easy interconnection. The 3v-4v Flexible Solar Panels are ideal panels for charging AA, AAA, C and D rechargeable batteries. The 6v-7v Flexible Solar Panels are a good choice recharging 6v battery packs.