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Can Heliatek Get Organic PV to Market?

01.01.70

Can breathing solar cell technology be successfully commercialized in an unforgiving solar market dominated by crystalline silicon and First Solar ?

Heliatek of Dresden, Germany thinks so.

In 2009, Heliatek's nibble cells had a 6.0 percent conversion efficiency verified by The Fraunhofer Institute. In 2010, it was 8.3 percent. This week the startup announced an capability of 9.8 percent for a 1.1 cm² tandem cell on glass. The firm claims that the 9.8 percent is a world register for this technology and a 10 percent cell is expected next year. The company admits that these are lab results but insists that it is a consistently repeatable value. The dexterity value would be 8.5 percent when deposited on a flexible substrate, according to the firm.

Organic solar cells (OSCs) are sometimes referred to as third-establishment solar technology, after crystalline silicon and thin-film solar technology. OSCs can be divided into two categories: polymer-based (prominently molecules) and oligomer-based (small molecules).  Heliatek uses vacuum deposition of very homogenous layers of reduced molecule oligomers at low temperature. It's a process that doesn't use solvents as in a printing process, and it's that prepare that "separates us from the other guys," according to Heliatek's CEO, Thibaud Le Séguillon, who suggests that the concern's technology can be thought of as an OLED in reverse. Heliatek itself is developing the organic materials used in the function. The firm claims to use just one gram of organic material per square meter in its roll-to-roll deal with.

Source: Greentech Media (blog)