Organic polymer solar cells, as their name implies, utilize organic polymers to absorb light and convert it into electricity because of its large amount of preparation, relatively low cost, non-toxic materials, and its flexible and flexible finished product, which makes it impossible to achieve durability and conversion efficiency Matched with inorganic solar cells, but still promising for photovoltaic applications.
Over the past 20 years, organic polymer solar cell rapid development of related research, increasing the number of patents, but in fact this emerging technology can not be replaced by the traditional large-scale inorganic, silicon solar cells, then where can they actually play a role Recently, Paul Berger, a motor engineer at Ohio State University and research associate Minjae Kim, published a paper in the journal Renewable and Sustainable Energy to discuss the current advances and challenges in organic polymer solar energy.
Researchers believe PSCs and inorganic solar cells should complement each other, as the former simply powers the device by bypassing the high-voltage transmission line, simply powering the grocery store lighting or the sensor on the food package.Because the organic solar cell itself More plastic (polymer), flexible, thin and transparent, very suitable for combination in the backpack, coat jacket and even coffee creamer or window surface, is a disruptive new business model.
As for the challenge now facing organic batteries, the first of its kind has almost limited useful life, as the polymer and battery active metal cathodes oxidize when exposed to water and oxygen, resulting in performance degradation, which must be encapsulated and protected, but to encapsulate flexible batteries More challenging than hard batteries.
At present, the conversion efficiency of polymer solar cells in the laboratory is only 13%, much lower than 20% of commercial solar cells (the latter has the highest recording efficiency of up to 26.6%), but the researchers pointed out that with tandem solar cells Development, organic solar cells also have the opportunity to obtain higher conversion efficiency through the division of labor in the future.
Some companies in the United States and Europe are trying to bring viable polymer solar cells to the market, and if they succeed, PSCs can put their pieces on the market and power a wide range of remote devices.