Leuven: IMEC and Plextronics collaborate to develop organic solar cells

Collaboration agreement

Belgian-based nanoelectronics research institute IMEC has signed an agreement with US company Plextronics, of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, to use its proprietary Plexcore materials and inks, which are key components to printed electronics, to develop reproducible high-efficiency organic solar cells.

According to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Colorado, Plextronics’ materials have demonstrated efficiencies as high as 5.9 per cent, which IMEC intends to use to develop multi-junction solar cells with 10 per cent efficiency by 2012. Under the terms of the agreement, IMEC, headquartered in Leuven, will scale up the production process with the aim of achieving large-area industrial manufacturing technology with average efficiency of 7 per cent and increasing the lifetime of solar cells to 5 years.

Plexcore materials are high-quality and highly reproducible regioregular poly-3-hexylthiophene polymer with a high absorption coefficient close to the maximum photon flux in the solar spectrum and high mobility. IMEC will process the material using spin coating, and validate it on film morphology, carrier mobility and reproducibility, and generate solar cells using spin-coated films of the material. Other proprietary Plexcore materials and inks will be evaluated using deposition techniques such as screen and inkjet printing and spray coating on large-area substrates. 

Jef Poortmans, of IMEC, said: “Plextronics' materials look very promising for high-efficiency reproducible organic solar cells. With their focus on materials, inks, and process technology for organic solar cells, we expect that our work with Plextronics will help accelerate our optimization and development of an industrial large-area process.”

Andy Hannah, CEO of Plextronics, said: “Our focus is on enabling OPV [organic photovoltaic] commercialisation with new inks and technology, and partnering with organizations like IMEC that have processing and device expertise is vital to that goal.”