Organic Solar Cells
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How can we
provide sufficient,
affordable energy for
a growing world population?
Renewable energies: The potential of our sun
3 * Forecast of energy-mix according to potential
Total capacity of the sun 120.000 TW
36.000 TW on land
Global energy demand 2050*
28 TW
2 TW Hydro power
4 TW Wind power
6 TW Biomass
10 TW Geothermal
energy
6 TW missing
The sun provides almost infinite amounts of energy…
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0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 W/m2
Source: Matthias Loster, 2006, Wikipedia
* Global energy demand 2006:14 TW Forecast for 2050: 28 TW
Insolation power on earth's surface
= ca. 900.000 km2 with solar cells of 8 % efficiency: 18 TW *
We are flooded with energy from the sun.
Can we put light into bags?
Yes, we can!
By converting it into electricity !
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Our competence:
1.
We investigate novel dyes
that lead to high power
conversion efficiencies.
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New NIR dyes harvest more light
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Wavelength [nm]
400 500 600 700 800
Normalized EQE / radiant power
Solar spectrum
ID1216 14 mA/cm²
ID504 10 mA/cm²
ID1216 has a potential power conversion efficiency of up to 12 %
New dyes are optimized for application in solar cell devices
Timeline of record efficiencies of different
thin-film technologies
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CIGS
CdTe
a-Si OPV
Development similar to inorganic thin- film technologies
Conversion efficiency (Lab) in %
Source: NREL 2010 et al.
Our competence:
2.
With our partners, we
develop highly efficient
OPV devices which
convert sunlight into
electricity.
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How does an organic solar cell work?
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Excited state
Ground state
Light energy
Voltage
Current = Number of converted photons
Electron transport
Hole transport
Our competence:
3.
Our devices are
manufactured by simple
coating processes.
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Example Solargate –
Transparent, flexible
integrated modules
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Organic solar cells can
be integrated into roofs,
facades, windows and
cars. 13
Roadmap for Organic Photovoltaics – OPV
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Consumer electronics, mobile solutions
2010
Local supply in rural areas, industrial applications
Cars, roofs, facades
2015
2020
Source of picture (middle of bottom section): Deutsche Solar
Organic photovoltaics is
a sustainable technology
because…
… the energy payback time of the installed modules is only a few weeks.
…the raw materials are cheap and almost unlimited.
… no heavy metals or rare-earth materials are necessary for production.
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Our challenges in the coming years:
The lifetime must be increased to 20 years.
Robust manufacturing techniques have to be developed.
The power conversion efficiency has to be improved to > 10% in modules.
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