Sep 22 2006
Eikos, Inc., a developer and licensor of highly transparent carbon nanotube (CNT) inks for conductive coatings, has been selected to present its findings on competitive efficiency achieved in organic solar cells using carbon nanotube conductive coatings -- a significant step toward developing fully printable solar cells.
Eikos Senior Engineer Dr. David Britz will present the research at the Organic Electronics Conference and Exhibition 2006 in Frankfurt on Tuesday, Sept 26 from 11:30-12 pm. The solar research was conducted on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in conjunction with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).
Using Eikos Invisicon® carbon nanotube conductive coatings, NREL/Eikos created organic solar cell structures that achieved an efficiency of 2.6% -- making them competitive with cells utilizing Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) transparent conductors. Additionally, Invisicon® coatings that replaced both ITO and PolyEthyleneDiOxyThiophene (PEDOT) produced cells with 1.5% efficiency, and further reduce manufacturing complexity and costs. Organic photovoltaics (OPVs), especially those enabled by carbon nanotube transparent electrodes, are an attractive alternative to traditional silicon-based solar cells because of their low cost, flexibility, and light weight.
Under the same DOE research program, the NREL/Eikos team produced the world’s first thin-film Copper Indium Gallium diSelenide (CIGS) solar cell incorporating CNTs. Using Invisicon® transparent coatings instead of doped Zinc Oxide, a significant 13% energy conversion efficiency was achieved.