SOLARMER ENERGY, INC. — Department of Defense SBIR Phase I: Solar cells based on organic materials, also called organic photovoltaic cells (OPVs), hav

Description

Solar cells based on organic materials, also called organic photovoltaic cells (OPVs), have attracted broad research interest due to their low-cost, flexibility and light weight. However, OPV technology remains in pre-commercial stage primarily due to the lack of manufacturing process. Despite a lot of improvement in efficiency, limited attention has been dedicated to develop production technologies for low-cost and large-scale manufacturing of OPVs. In addition, the lifetime and stability of OPV cells is still questionable. In this proposal, Solarmer Energy proposes a comprehensive research plan which will deal with the challenges of manufacturing OPVs at low-cost and improving stability. The overall goal of this Phase I research project is to demonstrate the feasibility of roll-to-roll production of flexible OPV cells in ambient environment. It is also a goal of this project to demonstrate OPV cells that are stable under continuous incident light. At the end of the proposed project we will demonstrate a flexible, monolithically integrated OPV module with 10 series cells and total module area of 100 cm2, with module efficiency of 5% and T80 lifetime of at least 500 hours under continuous illumination of 1 Sun.