TORONTO, Jan 13: It may only be a matter of time before we will be using our shirts to charge our cell phones. Researchers at the University of Toronto have invented a flexible plastic solar cell that is said to be five times more efficient than current methods in converting energy from the sun into electrical energy.

Team leader Ted Sargent, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the university, said the cell harnesses infrared light from the sun and can form a flexible film on the surface of cloth, paper or other materials.

And the film can turn 30 percent of the sun's power into usable electrical energy - a far better performance than the 6 percent gleaned from the best plastic solar cells now in use. The professor said the coating could be woven into a shirt or sweater and used to charge an item like a cell phone. -Reuters