Isra-Mart srl: Diamond Light Source study hails efficiency of "cling film" solar cells

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A government-backed research project has hailed a breakthrough in the efficiency of printed plastic solar cells, potentially paving the way for the commercialisation of cheaper and more transportable solar panels.

The Science and Technology Facilities Council, a non-departmental public body of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, today confirmed the results of its research into the layers of materials which convert sunlight into electricity.

Most photovoltaic devices are made with silicon, but scientists are keen to develop organic or plastic photovoltaic devices, which are believed to be cheaper and more flexible.

Plastic films can be deposited from solution using low cost roll-to-roll printing techniques. Some products already use this technology but the efficiency needs to be improved from seven/eight per cent to at least 10 per cent to make it commercially viable.

Scientists from the universities of Sheffield and Cambridge studied the structure and composition of certain polymers, using the ISIS Neutron Source and extremely bright x-rays at the Diamond Light Source facility in Oxfordshire.

Diamond generates intense pin-point beams of synchrotron light of exceptional quality which can be around 100 billion times brighter than a standard hospital x-ray machine.

The research found that when complex mixtures of molecules in a solution were spread onto a surface, like varnishing a table-top, the different molecules separated to the top and bottom of the layer, maximising the efficiency of the resulting solar cell.

Dr Andrew Parnell of the University of Sheffield suggested that the results pave the way for the commercialisation of "ultra-cheap" solar panels for domestic and industrial use.

"Rather than using complex and expensive fabrication methods to create a specific semiconductor nanostructure, high volume printing could be used to produce nano-scale films of solar cells that are over 1,000 times thinner than the width of a human hair," he said.

"These films could then be used to make cost-effective, light and easily transportable plastic solar cell devices such as solar panels."

The research was funded with a grant from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.

The project partners have also recently been awarded a new grant to carry out further studies into the structure and function of polymer solar cell materials, as well as examining new materials and innovative processes for high volume manufacture and future commercialisation.