Organic solar cells, the next frontier
With a discovery made at UCSB's Center for Polymers and Organic Solids, we are going to have less and less of an excuse not to go green!
Alan Heeger, professor of physics at UCSB and a winner of the 2000 Nobel Prize in chemistry, along with Kwanghee Lee, a professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology in Korea, have discovered a method that increases the efficiency of organic (carbon-containing as opposed to silicon-based) solar cells. Their discovery, made in collaboration with other researchers here and from Korea, is in today's issue of the journal "Science".
While conventional organic solar cells are comprised of single sheets of material, the new "tandem" organic solar cell is made of two multilayered parts that work together to gather a wider range of the spectrum: they collect both the shorter and longer light wavelengths. The architecture of the cells - two organic photovoltaic cells with different light absorption characteristics linked by a transparent layer of titanium oxide - is the equivalent of two cells in series, said Heeger.
As a result, the tandem cell has a 6.5 percent efficiency. "This is the highest level achieved for solar cells made from organic materials," Heeger said.
Silicon-based solar cells typically convert about 12 percent to 15 percent of solar energy to electricity, while previous organic photovoltaic cells converted up to about 6 percent.
Additionally, the cells can be produced in a more cost-effective way: processing from solution, where the plastic substrate is coated and printed. The light weight and flexibility of the cells can also lend themselves well to a variety of applications, while heavier silicon-based cells are more brittle.
To provide energy for today's electronics, organic photo cells need an efficiency of around 10 percent, but it shouldn't take long to get there. "I am confident that we can make additional improvements that will yield efficiencies sufficiently high for commercial products," said Heeger, who projects that this technology should hit the market in about three years.
Sonia Fernandez (July, 2007) Goleta Valley Voice, Goleta CA
With a discovery made at UCSB's Center for Polymers and Organic Solids, we are going to have less and less of an excuse not to go green!
Alan Heeger, professor of physics at UCSB and a winner of the 2000 Nobel Prize in chemistry, along with Kwanghee Lee, a professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology in Korea, have discovered a method that increases the efficiency of organic (carbon-containing as opposed to silicon-based) solar cells. Their discovery, made in collaboration with other researchers here and from Korea, is in today's issue of the journal "Science".
While conventional organic solar cells are comprised of single sheets of material, the new "tandem" organic solar cell is made of two multilayered parts that work together to gather a wider range of the spectrum: they collect both the shorter and longer light wavelengths. The architecture of the cells - two organic photovoltaic cells with different light absorption characteristics linked by a transparent layer of titanium oxide - is the equivalent of two cells in series, said Heeger.
As a result, the tandem cell has a 6.5 percent efficiency. "This is the highest level achieved for solar cells made from organic materials," Heeger said.
Silicon-based solar cells typically convert about 12 percent to 15 percent of solar energy to electricity, while previous organic photovoltaic cells converted up to about 6 percent.
Additionally, the cells can be produced in a more cost-effective way: processing from solution, where the plastic substrate is coated and printed. The light weight and flexibility of the cells can also lend themselves well to a variety of applications, while heavier silicon-based cells are more brittle.
To provide energy for today's electronics, organic photo cells need an efficiency of around 10 percent, but it shouldn't take long to get there. "I am confident that we can make additional improvements that will yield efficiencies sufficiently high for commercial products," said Heeger, who projects that this technology should hit the market in about three years.
Sonia Fernandez (July, 2007) Goleta Valley Voice, Goleta CA
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Comments on Organic solar cells, the next frontier
Green energy has come a long way in the last decade, it will only continue to grow in the future. It's an exciting time for invention.
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