Date: 01/10/2012

Imec and Solvay achieves organic photovoltaic module’s efficiency of 5.5%

Imec and the chemicals company Solvay have announced an organic photovoltaic module with a world-record certified efficiency of 5.5 percent (certified by Newport). The best performance at module-level is a critical step towards upscaling the production process and successful commercialization of organic photovoltaic cells. This result was accomplished using a novel inverted bulk heterojunction architecture developed by imec in close partnership with Solvay and a proprietary ActivInkTMsemiconductor from Polyera.

The optical translucency of the organic solar cells and its ability to be manufactured on large areas at high-throughput make them potential for integration into building facades and windows. The efficiency of organic solar cells is less dependent on the intensity and the angle of the incoming light; however, to become a relevant industrial solution, upscaling towards an industrial process is necessary, as is a further increase in performance and longer lifetime.

Imec’s research program on organic solar cells deals with all the challenges to make the organic photovoltaic technology ready for market introduction. Dedicated inverted bulk heterojunction architecture was developed by imec for polymer-based solar cells. This architecture concurrently optimizes cell light management and increases device stability. After demonstrating excellent efficiency results at the cell level in 2011, imec and Solvay developed a process to integrate inverted bulk heterojunction solar cells in an efficient module that uses 95 percent of the aperture area to generate electricity. The module efficiency for photovoltaic modules recording 5.5 percent on a 16cm² aperture area was achieved which is a world record, claims imec.

“We are excited to have achieved these excellent results at module level. They are an important step towards upscaling organic solar cell technology to high-volume production. With further device and module structure optimizations and optimization of the photo-active material of the cell, we will continue increasing efficiency and lifetime, which are essential advancements for developing an industry-relevant technology for organic solar cells”, said Tom Aernouts, R&D group leader of organic photovoltaics at imec.

Imec’s organic photovoltaics activities are currently part of Solliance, a cross-border R&D cluster that leverages the know-how of key players in thin film solar energy technology in the Eindhoven-Leuven-Aachen triangle (ELAT region) to strengthen the position of the region as a world player in thin film photovoltaics.

Source: imec