Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), an energy research center, has initiated a four-year project on printable organic solar cells.
Flexible organic solar module on a plastic foil made by KIT. (Photo: Andreas Pütz)
It aims to increase the present efficiency of organic solar cells to over 10%. The study has been awarded a €4.25 million grant by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research.
The study is being led by Dr. Alexander Colsmann of the Light Technology Institute. Organic solar cells are plastic solar cells which are flexible, light and semi-transparent. They can be produced at a low cost. These cells can be printed and coated onto surfaces of various shapes and onto windows and facades of buildings.
Organic solar cells consume low resources and can be disposed easily. They can be manufactured through economical coating and printing processes, that include continuous roll-to-roll processes, spray coating, slot-die coating, screen printing and gravure printing. They acquire flexibility as they are carried in plastic.
However, organic solar cells are not able to compete with inorganic solar cells in terms of power conversion efficiencies. As part of the research, the team will employ tandem architectures, where two solar cells possessing complementary absorption characteristics are stacked one on top of the other. This will increase the efficiency of energy conversion through improved harvesting of sun light. The researchers will utilize new materials and innovative device architectures.
The study is supported by the University of Queensland in Australia, the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research in Potsdam, and Merck.