New material paves way for flexible solar cells

According to foreign media reports, with the successful development of high-energy-saving organic small-molecule solar cells, solar panels that can be printed like newspapers have become a step closer to reality. This type of solar cell developed by a research group at the University of California, Santa Barbara, has an energy efficiency of 6.7%, which is comparable to the best performing polymer solar cells. Most of the polymer batteries have an energy efficiency of between 6% and 8%.

The authors of the papers, including Nobel Laureate Prof. Allan Hague, wrote in a paper published in the journal Nature Materials recently: “The results of these studies have made significant progress in solution processing of organic optoelectronic technologies and confirmed the use of small molecules. The resulting solar cells compete with their polymer versions."

Chris McNeill, a materials scientist at Monash University in Australia, said that the paper marks a new "significant" progress in this area. Scholars and industrial laboratories around the world are conducting research on organic solar cell devices because they have the potential for large-scale production of flexible, low-cost solar energy devices.

Although this new type of solar cell has similar performance to many solar panels installed on rooftops in Australia, their manufacturing costs will be lower, and their ultralight and flexible characteristics will also allow them to be used in a variety of ways, even Used on the surface of uneven objects. Professor Paul Meredith, of the Center for Organic Photonics and Electronics at the University of Queensland, said that so far most people have focused their attention on the development of organic polymer solar cells. However, these batteries are difficult to control and produce because they are generally difficult to achieve uniform standards in size and performance. He said: "If I collect a barrel of this polymer battery and look at every molecule, I will find that they are very different in size and shape. And these new small molecules, as long as you make proper synthesis, each one The molecules will all be the same, so you can better control and produce solar cells."

Meredith said that the next step is to create a commercial-sized model that can maintain this level of energy conversion. Solar panels on the roof have an area of ​​about 10 square centimeters, while the small-molecule solar cells published in the magazine "Natural Materials" have an effective area of ​​only 0.196 square centimeters. He said: “The current problem facing organic solar cells is that when we try to scale up to larger devices, the best (energy conversion) we generate is only a few percent.” Problems that still exist include: Whether a small-molecule solar cell can make a larger area of ​​the cell can still maintain this conversion efficiency, and whether it can reach industrial-scale production standards.

Meredith said, but it is "a very beautiful molecule, the quality can be described as first class." “What surprised me was that in order to achieve such good electrical performance, it was able to organize itself so perfectly.” McNeil said that the main benefit of organic solar cells is that they can be used in a way similar to that adopted by newspapers. The roll-to-roll printing process produces inexpensive products. He said: "If you can produce ultra-light, efficient and low-cost modules, people will be happy to accept it. (Using organic solar cells) The roof infrastructure does not need to be changed, because you can spread it on the roof, Stick on it and turn on the power."