Next Energy Technologies — Department of Energy SBIR Phase I: Solar technologies have had little impact on energy generation due to the high price of so

Description

Solar technologies have had little impact on energy generation due to the high price of solar electricity generated by current technology relative to the cost of electricity generated from fossil fuels. The DOE Sunshot aims at reducing the installed cost of solar energy systems by about 75% and predicts that this will drive widespread, large-scale adoption of this renewable energy technology and restore U.S. leadership in the global clean energy race. Next Energy Technologies (NEXTs) soluble small molecule (SSM) organic photovoltaic (OPV) promises to lower the cost per watt of modules and also the balance of system costs below the goals of Sunshot. NEXTs SSM-OPVs can be coated as inks onto conventional plastic rolls in high yields using roll-to-roll technology allowing for the generation of lightweight, flexible, and extremely inexpensive solar cells. This project focuses on enhancing inherent device stability in order to increase product lifetime and reduce the cost of vapor barrier and packaging materials required for modules. The technical approach encompasses the development of solution processable metal oxide contact layers to eliminate the need for low work function metallic electrodes. Successful completion of the project will yield performance equivalent to conventionally processed devices and demonstrate significant improvement to device lifetime. NEXTs scale-up to commercial and utility markets will be enabled by a near-term commercialization strategy that targets high-value niche markets that exploit the lightweight and flexible characteristics of our OPV product such as portable, flexible solar for military and consumer applications. Early revenues from these niche markets will allow NEXT to efficiently scale our low-cost OPV product towards the much larger commercial and utility markets where PV sales are driven by cost. We are particularly well suited to important market segments not currently well served by current generations of PV, for example, large open-span rooftops that cant support traditional PV.