Solar Cell Fabric: How Cloth Makes Power and Where to Get It

A kilogram of one French solar textile can make 340 watts.

That’s the claim Solar Cloth puts on its own product page, and it explains why engineers keep chasing cloth that makes power.

Solar cell fabric won’t replace your roof. But it can go where a glass panel never could: a sail, a tent, a backpack strap.

Here’s the plain answer on how it’s built, what it can really power and how to get some.

What Is Solar Cell Fabric?

Solar cell fabric is a textile with working solar cells built into it or bonded onto it, so the cloth turns sunlight into electricity. People also call it photovoltaic fabric, PV textile or solar textile.

Fabric bends, folds, rolls and weighs very little. A standard solar panel does none of that, because its cells sit behind glass in an aluminum frame.

So what changes when the cells move onto cloth?

The physics stays the same. Each cell is a thin layer of semiconducting material, and light knocks electrons loose to make a current, just like how solar energy becomes electricity in a normal panel.

What changes is the package. The cells have to be thin enough to flex, wired with connections that survive bending, and sealed so rain and sweat can’t reach them.

In other words, solar cell fabric is a solar panel rebuilt around cloth instead of glass.

How Solar Cells Get Into Fabric: 3 Build Methods

Solar cell fabric is made in 3 ways: flexible cells are laminated onto a fabric base, thin film is printed onto the cloth, or tiny cells are built into woven fibers.

The table lines them up side by side:

Lamination is how commercial solar textiles are built today.

For example, the French maker behind that 340-watt claim describes its modules as having a flexible textile base, foldable and furlable, unlike glass-based panels. Furlable means it can roll up around a mast like a sail.

Printing coats a light-absorbing ink onto fabric with methods related to screen-printing, so one machine can cover a long roll.

Woven fibers are the most cloth-like option. Each yarn carries its own tiny cell, so the textile drapes like a normal shirt, but most of this work is still in labs.

Fabric Solar Panel vs. Solar Cell Fabric

A fabric solar panel and solar cell fabric are not always the same thing. A fabric solar panel is usually a normal flexible panel sewn onto a cloth carrier, while true solar cell fabric has the cells built into the textile itself.

Most “solar fabric” products online are the first kind. That’s fine, as long as you know what you’re paying for:

• Look for visible cell rectangles. A grid of dark tiles stitched into a pocket means attached panels.
• Check for a removable module. If the solar part unzips, it’s a panel on fabric.
• Read the spec sheet. True PV textiles list the cell type, such as CIGS, and a watts-per-weight figure.

For a pack or tarp, an attached panel works. For cloth that drapes or wraps a curve, look for the built-in kind.

Which Solar Cell Technologies Work in Fabric?

Solar cell fabric uses thin, bendable cell types: CIGS (copper indium gallium selenide) thin film, thin or amorphous silicon, organic cells and perovskite cells. The Solar Cloth textile uses CIGS thin photovoltaic layers with efficiency currently at 17%, according to its site.

Why not regular silicon?

The thick silicon wafers in a rooftop solar panel crack when they bend. That’s why textile makers pick materials that can be laid down as a film only a few microns thick.

Here’s how each cell technology differs, in plain terms:

• CIGS thin film: flexible, already sold in commercial solar textiles.
• Thin or amorphous silicon: flexible and familiar, used in many bendable panels.
• Organic cells: carbon-based, very light and printable onto cloth.
• Perovskite cells: a newer crystal that performs well in labs but still struggles with long-term durability.

For a deeper look at the chemistry, see what materials solar cells are made from.

The practical takeaway: when a seller won’t name the cell type, treat that as a warning sign.

How Efficient Is Solar Fabric Compared to Solar Panels?

Solar fabric converts less sunlight into electricity per square foot than a rigid solar panel, but it can beat panels on power to weight ratio. Solar Cloth lists 17% efficiency for its CIGS textile and claims 340 watts per kilogram on its own site.

Efficiency tells you how much of the sunlight hitting the surface becomes electricity. Rigid silicon panels lead on that measure, for reasons explained in this guide on why solar panels lose energy.

The power to weight ratio tells you how many watts you get per kilogram carried. That’s the number that matters on a boat, a drone or your back.

Here’s how the two compare:

So which should you pick?

If you have a flat roof and want the most power per dollar, go with panels. If every gram counts or the surface curves, fabric wins.

Pro Tip: To compare products, divide the rated watts by the weight in kilograms.

What Is Solar Fabric Used For?

Solar fabric is used where a glass panel is too heavy or too rigid: boat sails, tents and shelters, awnings and shade structures, backpacks, vehicles, drones and farm covers. One French textile maker lists aerospace, agriculture, humanitarian aid, transportation and tourism projects on its project page.

Take a sail: a huge piece of fabric that spends hours in full sun. Turn it into a power source and a sailboat can top up its batteries without bolting panels to the deck.

Shelters work the same way. A relief tent that powers its own lights and radio means one less heavy generator to fly in.

Shade structures are another natural fit. See these solar fabric canopies that charge devices while they block the sun.

Solar backpacks are the version you’ll find in ordinary stores, and they carry attached panels rather than woven cells, as these solar rucksacks show.

The best uses are the ones where the fabric would be there anyway.

Can Solar Clothing Charge a Phone?

Solar clothing can charge a phone, but slowly, and only when its solar cells cover a large area in strong sun. A jacket or shirt has little surface facing the sun, and your body shades half of it, so expect a slow top-up rather than a full charge.

Here’s the math, with hypothetical round numbers:

Say a solar jacket makes 2 watts in full midday sun. Say your phone battery holds 15 watt-hours.

In a perfect world, that’s 7.5 hours of direct sun to fill the phone. In real life you’ll walk under trees and lose some power to heat and the charging circuit.

The fix?

Charge a small battery pack instead of the phone. The garment trickles power into the pack all day, and the pack charges your phone at full speed when you need it.

A dedicated solar power bank does that job in one device. For trail charging, a foldable panel from this list of solar phone chargers beats any jacket.

Key Takeaway: Solar clothing works best for small loads like lights, sensors and watches, not for running a smartphone.

Is Solar Fabric Washable and Durable?

Solar fabric can survive weather and some washing when its cells are sealed inside a waterproof laminate, but most solar textiles today are built for outdoor wear, not the washing machine. The weak spots are the thin wires between cells and moisture getting under the seal.

Bending is the first test. Every fold flexes the cells and their tiny connections, and a cheap product can crack one and lose a whole row of cells.

Sealing is the second test: water, sweat and dirt damage cells and wiring, so good products sandwich everything between protective films.

That’s where lamination skill matters. The French maker says its lamination know-how comes from developing sailing products for competitive nautical events, where fabric gets soaked, flogged and sun-blasted for weeks.

For gear you own, follow 3 simple rules:

1. Unplug the electronics first. Remove any battery, cable or control box before cleaning.
2. Hand wash or wipe. Use mild soap and cool water unless the maker says it’s machine safe.
3. Store it rolled, not creased. A loose roll stresses the cells far less than a sharp fold.

In other words, treat solar fabric like a good rain jacket with electronics inside.

Can You Buy Solar Fabric, and What Does It Cost?

You can buy solar fabric, but true solar cell fabric is mostly sold as custom projects quoted per job, not as rolls with a price per yard. The commercial maker covered in this guide publishes no price on its site, so expect to request a quote.

Most makers build to order, because a sail, an awning and a tent each need a different shape, wiring and battery.

Take Solar Cloth: its founder, Alain Janet, says he founded the company in 2014.

The company makes its textile in France and quotes each job after a free diagnostic.

So how do you get a real number? Send a short email like this one:

“Hi, I’m looking for a solar textile for a [tent, sail, awning] about [size]. What cell type do you use, what’s the rated watts and weight per square meter, and what would a quote look like for this size?”

That email gets you the 3 numbers you need: watts, weight and price. Divide price by watts to compare any quote with a flexible panel.

Don’t Confuse It With Solar Screen Fabric

Solar screen fabric is a different product with a similar name. It’s a mesh that blocks sunlight and heat at windows and patios, and it makes zero electricity.

Rolls of mesh sold by the foot are screen fabric. Here’s what solar screen fabric does if shade, not power, is what you’re after.

Can You Make DIY Solar Cell Fabric?

DIY solar cell fabric means sewing or gluing small flexible solar panels onto cloth and wiring them to a battery, because weaving or printing working cells takes factory equipment. For a home project, think “solar patchwork,” not woven solar thread.

Here’s how it works:

1. Pick flexible cells or small panels. Thin-film modules bend; rigid glass cells will crack.
2. Plan the layout. Put panels where the sun hits most, like a tent roof.
3. Wire them in series or parallel. Match the voltage to the battery or USB charger you’ll use.
4. Add a charge controller and battery. It protects the battery.
5. Seal the joints. Cover solder points so rain can’t short them.

You’ll find panels sized for a project like this among these mini solar panels. For the wiring basics, this guide on building your own solar panel walks through cell connections step by step.

Note: Hand-built solar gear has no waterproof rating, so keep it out of heavy rain.

What’s Next for Solar Cell Fabric

Solar cell fabric is moving from research labs to real products, led by thin-film textiles for sails, shelters and shade, while clothing with woven cells is still mostly at the prototype stage. University teams such as MIT keep making the technology thinner and lighter.

The best-known work from MIT bonded ultrathin cells onto a light, strong fabric that can be glued onto almost any surface. Washing, cost and lower efficiency still keep woven solar clothing out of stores.

So for a curved or moving surface today, buy a laminated textile or a flexible panel.

The Bottom Line

Solar cell fabric gives you watts where a glass panel can’t go, and its real edge is weight, not efficiency.

If you’re shopping, this week email one maker and ask for watts, weight and price per square meter.