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At MIT, researchers have developed a solar cell so thin that it’s able to sit atop a delicate soap bubble without popping it.

Despite the ridiculously small size of the new cells, the ultrathin cells produce about 400 times more power than the standard photovoltaic cells, according to Blasting News.

Though it may take years to develop the thinnest and lightest solar cells ever produced into a commercial product, the laboratory proof-of-concept shows a new approach to making cells that will help power the next generation of portable electronics, according to an MIT News Release.

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“We wanted people to see how thin this solar cell was, but you can't tell the difference between a 10-micron and a 1-micron film by eye," study lead author Joel Jean told Live Science. "My lab mate Patrick Brown suggested floating the cell on a bubble to make the weight difference much more dramatic, so I tried it."

The new solar cells are as small as 1.3 microns thick, which is dwarfed in comparison to the average size of a human hair, about 100 microns thick, according to the study published in the journal Organic Electronics.

As for the weight of the cell, it weighs about 0.01 pounds per square yard, about 20 times less than that of your normal sheet of office paper.

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"It could be so light that you don't even know it's there, on your shirt or on your notebook," said study senior author Vladimir Bulović. "These cells could simply be an add-on to existing structures."

However, the size of the cell the MIT researchers developed is too small to be practical, even a single breath could blow it away. "It's, of course, just for show, but we think it makes for a good show," said Jean.

As for when the solar cells may be commercially available, “a general rule of thumb is that it takes a decade for a technology to go from research lab to market,” according to Jean.

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