New cling-film solar cell developed

Professors Richard Smalley and Harry Kroto received Nobel Prizes for their research of a material called PCDTBT:PCBM. The material is now being used by British researchers to create a new, simple, and inexpensive solar cell. They found that when spreading a complex mixture of molecules onto this surface, the molecules separate to a top and bottom layer that maximize solar cell efficiency.

This plastic film can be produced the same way newspapers are printed with roll to roll printing. Professor Andrew Parnell from the University of Sheffield explains that this method of production is much less expensive than the current method in creating a specific semiconductor nanostructure of a solar cell. These cells will be light and easily transportable plastic solar cell devices.

In order to be on the market, these new cling-film solar cells need to have at least an efficiency of 10 percent. Right now they are only at 7 percent. Bright x-rays are being used to study the composition of the cells in order to make them more efficient.

Robert Dalgliesh, one of the Isis scientists involved in the research, says that “by studying the layers in the materials which convert sunlight into electricity, we are learning how different processing steps change the overall efficiency and affect the overall polymer solar cell performance.”

Using this cling-film technology, these solar cells could help bring down the cost of solar energy.

Full article available at Ecoseed