Dmitry Lopatin, a 26-year-old scientist who invented a cheap new kind of solar battery, has come across an unexpected obstacle. He was slapped with a three-year suspended jail sentence, for using banned materials in his invention.
The researcher was facing 11 years behind bars, but the prosecutor’s office dealing with the case agreed that a suspended sentence would suffice, the TASS news agency reported.

Lopatin had been working on a new type of flexible sun cell batteries for the last three years. The advantage of these power sources is their ability to operate at sunset or in cloudy or foggy weather, while they are just one-fifth of the price of foreign prototypes.

“I am inventing solar batteries which can be printed by using a printer-like device. It is basically foil covered by a substance which accumulates solar energy and transforms it into electricity,” Lopatin told the Gazeta.ru website.