Scientists who are members of a new energy materials - related science center based at Berkeley Lab have solved a mystery that could lead to gains in efficiency
for organic solar cells.
An international team of researchers has discovered a new quantitative relation that allows for quick identification of promising material combinations
for organic solar cells.
While there is a growing market
for organic solar cells --- they contain materials that are cheaper, more abundant, and more environmentally friendly than those used in typical solar panels — they also tend to be less efficient in converting sunlight to electricity than conventional solar cells.
While there is a growing market
for organic solar cells ¬ ¬ - they contain materials that are cheaper, more abundant, and more environmentally friendly than those used in typical solar panels — they also tend to be less efficient in converting sunlight to electricity than conventional solar cells.
There is also ongoing search for novel materials
for organic solar cells, organic metals and semiconductors.
Not exact matches
In the paper published in Nature Energy, the researchers described how they used
organic semiconductors — contorted hexabenzocoronene (cHBC) derivatives —
for constructing the
solar cells.
The performance and stability of inorganic -
organic perovskite
solar cells are also limited by the size of the cations required
for forming a correct lattice.
By contrast, semi-transparent
solar cells use,
for example,
organic or dye - sensitized materials.
Metal -
organic perovskite layers
for solar cells are frequently fabricated using the spin coating technique on industry - relevant compact substrates.
According to Colsmann, another field of application is the integration of
solar cells into buildings: Since the glass facades of high - rise buildings must often be shaded, it is an obvious option to use
organic solar modules
for transforming the absorbed light into electric power.
The results are encouraging
for Aspuru - Guzik, who, in collaboration with computer giant IBM, is using the same computational tools to screen some 3.5 million
organic molecules in the search
for a new generation of flexible and lightweight
solar cells.
The goal is to provide the materials that will allow
organic photovoltaic
cells to turn more than 10 % of the
solar energy that hits them into electricity, compared with about 9 %
for the best materials today.
The new method should reduce the time nano manufacturing firms spend in trial - and - error searches
for materials to make electronic devices such as
solar cells,
organic transistors and
organic light - emitting diodes.
This novel technique and the information it provides have significant implications
for future transport property manipulation in electronic devices featuring
organic molecules, such as
solar cells and light - emitting diodes.
Postdoctoral research associate Monojit Bag (left) and graduate student Tim Gehan (right) synthesize polymer nanoparticles
for use in
organic - based
solar cells being made at the UMass Amherst - based energy center.
A few months ago, researchers from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California
for the first time succeeded in observing the cross-linking of polymer molecules in the active layer of an
organic solar cell during the printing process.
«This is some of the first evidence that electrons and holes could still interact like this across such a long distance,» commented Professor Adachi, «so this structure may also be a useful tool
for studying and understanding the physics of excitons to design better OLEDs and
organic solar cells in the future.»
Organic electronic devices such as OLEDs and
organic solar cells use thin films of
organic molecules
for the electrically active materials, making flexible and low - cost devices possible.
One important class of
organic solar cells uses dyes applied to a semiconductor material like titanium dioxide (TiO2),
for example.
Therefore,
organic dyes are promising lightweight materials
for application as e.g.
organic semiconductors, but also in
for instance LCD displays or
solar cells.
A simple new approach to plastic
solar cells: Osaka University researchers intelligently design new highly efficient
organic solar cells based on amorphous electronic materials with potential
for easy printing January 28th, 2018
Light harvesting management by using microstructural is a promising strategy
for enhancing photoactive layer absorption in
organic (OSCs) and perovskite
solar cells (PSCs).
Resume: Light harvesting management by using microstructural is a promising strategy
for enhancing photoactive layer absorption in
organic (OSCs) and perovskite
solar cells (PSCs).
Home > Press > A simple new approach to plastic
solar cells: Osaka University researchers intelligently design new highly efficient
organic solar cells based on amorphous electronic materials with potential
for easy printing
Plastic
solar cells, based on blends of conducting
organic polymers, are of interest
for making lightweight and cheap
solar cells.
Drawn together by the force of nature, but pulled apart by the force of man — it sounds like the setting
for a love story, but it is also a basic description of how scientists have begun to make more efficient
organic solar cells.
For perovskite
solar cells world record efficiencies have been obtained from compositional engineering of the hybrid
organic - inorganic perovskite light absorber material.
Bringing everything together, Sir Harry Kroto, Nobel Laureate
for Chemistry and our Past President, talks on BBC World News about the future of renewable energy and how advances in harvesting the energy of the sun, such as
organic solar cells and artificial photosynthesis, are being inspired by nature.
For more information about organic and dye - sensitised solar cells you might like this article in The Mole, our magazine for young peop
For more information about
organic and dye - sensitised
solar cells you might like this article in The Mole, our magazine
for young peop
for young people.
«Roughly, every 12 hours of donated free CPU time will result in a new molecule added to our database of candidate
organic materials
for solar cells,» said Alán Aspuru - Guzik of Havard, who is one of the project's leaders.