Organic Photovoltaics
Australian PV Printer Scales Up OPV Production
08 June 2013POSTED IN Research
Scientists at Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) have developed two new photovoltaic printers that can print organic solar cells at a rate of 10 metres per minute — or one cell every two seconds. The PV printing machines, two of the largest in the world, print at room temperature and in “normal” conditions. Thus, the PV cells produced could be much cheaper than silicon or thin-film solar cells. At 30 cm wide (the size of an A3 sheet of paper) they are also 10 times the size of previous flexible plastic solar cells and the largest produced in Australia.
Block Copolymers — A New Path in Organic Photovoltaics
03 June 2013POSTED IN Research
Polymer-based organic photovoltaics (OPVs) carry great potential for lightweight, low-cost solar energy. In an effort to improve the performance of polymer solar cells while maintaining cheap processing strategies, researchers at Rice University in Texas (US) and Pennsylvania State University in Pennsylvania (US) have now created a new kind of solar cell based on block copolymers, self-assembling organic materials that arrange themselves into distinct layers.
IBM Develops Economical Sunflower CPV System
29 April 2013POSTED IN Research
IBM’s solar concentrator system — called an economical High Concentration PhotoVoltaic Thermal (HCPVT) system — could revolutionise solar energy. Mounted on innovative concrete solar trackers, the sunflower-inspired parabolic dish uses a multitude of mirror facets to concentrate sunlight onto several microchannel-liquid cooled receivers with photovoltaic converter chips. Scientists are hoping to develop an affordable photovoltaic system that can collect and convert 75–80% of the incoming solar radiation into energy.
Pentacene Coating Could Push Solar Cell Efficiency Beyond Shockley-Queisser Limit
25 April 2013POSTED IN Research
Thanks to a new coating developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), solar cells could produce two electrons for every particle of light harvested at the green and blue wavelengths. The research advance could be the key to solar cell efficiencies beyond the Shockley-Queisser limit, which proposes that the ultimate conversion efficiency can never exceed 34% for a single optimised semiconductor junction.
Bottom-Up Growth Key to 4.9% Efficient QD Solar Cells
09 April 2013POSTED IN Research
New research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, Massachusetts (US), shows that bottom-up-grown one-dimensional nanostructures can significantly improve the performance of colloidal quantum dot (QD) solar cells. In fact, the MIT team demonstrated a solar power conversion efficiency of 4.9%, which is among the highest reported for zinc-oxide-based quantum dot photovoltaics (QDPV).
Neutron Scattering Technique May Increase Thin-Film Solar Efficiency
11 March 2013POSTED IN Research
Engineers and scientists from the University of Sheffield, UK, have pioneered a new technique — called SERGIS — to measure the structure of PCBM crystallites (a fullerene derivative of the C60 buckyball) in thin-film solar cell materials, which will ultimately help to make the cells more efficient.
Yale’s Carbon Nanotube Thin Film Could Advance Si Solar Cells
04 March 2013POSTED IN Research
A carbon nanotube (CNT) thin film developed by researchers at the Yale University could prove a novel and cost-effective way to realise superior photovoltaic properties of crystalline solar cells. The hybrid carbon nanotube/silicon solar cells may have unmatched power conversion efficiency.
If Darwin Had Designed a Solar Cell…
11 February 2013POSTED IN Research
Using a mathematical search algorithm based on natural evolution, researchers at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois (US) have designed a geometrically patterned light-scattering layer that could make organic solar cells more efficient and less expensive by maximizing the time light is trapped in the device.
More Efficient, Cheaper Solar Cells with InP Nanowires
04 February 2013POSTED IN Research
Research at Lund University in Sweden has shown how nanowires could pave the way for more efficient and cheaper solar cells. The indium phosphides (InP) nanowires function like antennae that absorb sunlight and generate power at 13.8% conversion efficiency. What is more, the nanowires only covered 12% of the surface in the experiment, potentially making this solar technology remarkably sustainable for its reduced use of semiconductor materials.
Clues from Quantum Biology Could Lead to More Efficient Solar Energy
27 January 2013POSTED IN Research
Quantum scale photosynthesis in biological systems that inhabit extreme low-light environments could hold the key to more efficient solar cell designs. Recent research work at the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, aimed at providing a better understanding of the surprisingly long quantum coherence times between the exciton states that carry energy in pigment-protein complexes (PPCs), the biomolecular structures that perform light absorption, energy transport and charge separation in natural photosynthetic organisms.
Heliatek Achieves Cell Efficiency of 12%
16 January 2013POSTED IN Applications News
Organic solar films manufacturer Heliatek today announced a record-breaking 12% cell efficiency for its organic solar cells.
This world record, established in cooperation with the University of Ulm and TU Dresden, was measured by the accredited testing facility SGS. The measurement campaign at SGS also validated the superior low light and high temperature performances of organic photovoltaics (OPV) compared to traditional solar technologies.
The Branford Group Schedules Konarka Asset Auctions
07 January 2013POSTED IN Business News
The Branford Group, in conjunction with Joseph Finn Company, today announced it will conduct a series of auctions for the assets formerly of Konarka Technologies, an OPV (organic photovoltaic) technology and thin-film plastic solar panel developer.
Solar Scientist Named to Forbes' 30 Under 30 in Energy
02 January 2013POSTED IN Research
When Trisha Andrew, an assistant professor of chemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, first learned that she has been named to Forbes magazine's 30 Under 30 in Energy, she thought ‘What am I doing on this list?’ “There is a plethora of fantastic, bright scientists pushing the boundaries of how we generate, harvest and store energy,” says the talented innovator and former MIT fellow. And the Forbes editors have decided the organic chemist deserves a place in this distinguished group.
Peel-and-Stick Thin-Film Solar Panels
28 December 2012POSTED IN Research
Flexible thin-film solar panels have been in the focus of photovoltaics researchers for quite some time. The realm of applications for the widespread heavy, rigid solar panels is limited, and the technology is unsuitable for the design of wearable devices that would be integrated in clothing, for instance. Now, researchers at Stanford University in California (US) have succeeded in developing the world’s first peel-and-stick thin-film solar cells.
Exploring Carbon Nanotubes for Future PV Devices
11 December 2012POSTED IN Research
Researchers at the University of Würzburg, Germany will spend the next four years exploring the potential of carbon nanotubes (CNT) for use in new types of photovoltaic devices, with special focus on developing novel functional composite systems. Unique qualities have scientists speculate whether carbon nanotube material could deliver devices with power conversion efficiencies not only competitive to organic photovoltaics but with added benefits, such as greater long term stability, improved charge and excitation transport properties and possibly better light absorption properties in the near infrared range of the solar spectrum.
Self-Arranging Titania Nanotubes Promise Ultra-Low-Cost Solar Cells
05 December 2012POSTED IN Research
Researchers at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts (US) have developed self-arranging titania nanotube arrays that could be advantageous in solar panels or fuel cells. The one-dimensional architecture and the large effective surface area of the nanotube arrays could provide better solar harvesting capability as well as improved charge transport.
ThyssenKrupp Steel Europe and Solliance Research OPV on Steel
29 November 2012POSTED IN Applications News
ThyssenKrupp Steel Europe and Solliance have partnered to research applications for organic photovoltaics (OPVs), the companies today announced.
Breakthrough 2D Semiconductor Possible Next-Generation Solar Cell
18 November 2012POSTED IN Research
Researchers from the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have successfully synthesized single-layer MoSe2 (molybdenum diselenide), which has ideal band gap values for solar harvesting. The team discovered that while 2D MoSe2 presents a direct band gap, bulk MoSe2 is an indirect band gap semiconductor when it is few-layers thick. The band characteristics are manipulated through temperature. With its advantageous band gap and great photoluminescence characteristics, this two-dimensional semiconductor offers flexibility and new options for solar applications.
First All-Carbon Solar Cell Could Excel in Extreme Conditions
15 November 2012POSTED IN Research
Chemical Engineers at Stanford University in California (US) have built the first solar cell made entirely of carbon, a material considered promising by photovoltaics researchers for its high performance, low cost and earth-abundance. In addition to building an efficient thin-film solar cell that can be coated inexpensively from solutions, the Stanford team expects their devices to be particularly stable in harsh environmental, chemical and physical conditions.
Next-Generation Anti-Reflective Coatings
03 November 2012POSTED IN Research
The next generation of antireflection (AR) coatings has arrived and could help bump solar cell efficiency considerably by employing a promising new class of optical nanomaterials that allow for near-arbitrary control of the refractive index, conceivably the most important materials constant in optics and optoelectronics. Could these advanced coatings present a critical forward push for solar photovoltaics toward becoming a mainstream source of worldwide electrical power generation?
