Solar textile collaboration weaves chemistry and design

Marianne Fairbanks is bringing decades of experience with dyes, fibers, and design to the development of a technology she’s been dreaming of for years: solar textile.

“I found myself on a campus full of bril­liant people of all disciplines so I just Googled ‘solar research UW–Madison,’ ” says Fairbanks, assistant professor in the UW School of Human Ecology’s design studies program and co-founder of Noon Solar, a Chicago-based company that makes solar-charged handbags.

The Google search led her to Trisha Andrew, a rising star in energy research and assistant professor of chemistry at the university. Andrew draws from the fields of chemistry, materials science, and electrical engineering to develop low-cost, lightweight solar cells. Her most recent innovation is an organic dye-based solar cell deposited onto paper.