(Press-News.org) A polymer solar cell is a type of thin film solar cells made with polymers that produce electricity from sunlight by the photovoltaic effect. Most current commercial solar cells are made from a highly purified silicon crystal. The high cost of these silicon solar cells and their complex production process has generated interest in developing alternative photovoltaic technologies.
Compared to silicon-based devices, PSCs are lightweight (which is important for small autonomous sensors), solution processability (potentially disposable), inexpensive to fabricate (sometimes using printed electronics), flexible, and customizable on the molecular level, and they have lower potential for negative environmental impact. Polymer solar cells have attracted a lot of interest due to these many advantages.
Although these many advantages, PSCs currently suffer from a lack of enough efficiency for large scale applications and stability problems but their promise of extremely cheap production and eventually high efficiency values has led them to be one of the most popular fields in solar cell research.
To maximize PCE, light absorption in the active layer has to be increased using thick bulk heterojunction (BHJ) films. However, the thickness of the active layer is limited by the low carrier mobilities of BHJ materials. Therefore, it is necessary to find the ways to minimize the thickness of BHJ films while maximizing the light absorption capability in the active layer.
The research team employed the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effect via multi-positional silica-coated silver NPs (Ag@SiO2) to increase light absorption. The silica shell in Ag@SiO2 preserves the SPR effect of the Ag NPs by preventing oxidation of the Ag core under ambient conditions and also eliminates the concern about exciton quenching by avoiding direct contact between Ag cores and the active layer. The multi-positional property refers to the ability of Ag@SiO2 NPs to be introduced at both ITO/PEDOT:PSS (type I) and PEDOT:PSS/active layer (type II) interfaces in polymer: fullerene-based BHJ PSCs due to the silica shells.
Because PSCs have many advantages, including low cost, solution processability, and mechanical flexibility, PSCs can be adopted in various applications. However, we should break the efficiency barrier of 10% for commercialization of PSCs.
Jin Young Kim and Soojin Park, both, Associate Professors of the Interdisciplinary School of Green Energy, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), Ulsan, South Korea, led this work.
Prof. Kim said, "This is the first report introducing metal NPs between the hole transport layer and active layer for enhancing device performance. The multipositional and solutions-processable properties of our surface plasmon resonance (SPR) materials offer the possibility to use multiple plasmonic effects by introducing various metal nanoparticles into different spatial location for high-performance optoelectronic device via mass production techniques."
"Our work is meaningful to develop novel metal nanoparticles and almost reach 10% efficiency by using these materials. If we continuously focus on optimizing this work, commercialization of PSCs will be a realization but not dream," added Prof. Park.
INFORMATION:
This research was supported by WCU (World Class University) program through the Korea Science and Engineering Foundation funded the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (Minister Lee Ju-Ho) and the National Research Foundation of Korea (President Seung Jong Lee). It has published in Nano Letters (Title: Multipositional Silica-Coated Silver Nanoparticles for High-Performance Polymer Solar Cells ).
Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology http://www.unist.ac.kr
The original research article is available at http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/nl400730z
Homepage of Prof. Jin Young Kim http://ngel.unist.ac.kr/
Homepage of Prof. Soojin Park http://spark.unist.ac.kr/
A giant leap to commercialization of polymer solar cell
2013-05-07
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
New insights into Ebola infection pave the way for much-needed therapies
2013-05-07
The Ebola virus is among the deadliest viruses on the planet, killing up to 90% of those infected, and there are no approved vaccines or effective therapies. A study published by Cell Press on May 7th in the Biophysical Journal reveals how the most abundant protein making up the Ebola virus—viral protein 40 (VP40)—allows the virus to leave host cells and spread infection to other cells throughout the human body. The findings could lay the foundation for the development of new drugs and strategies for fighting Ebola infection.
"Little research is available on how the ...
Protecting the heart health of diabetic patients
2013-05-07
Diabetics have an increased risk of developing coronary artery disease and plaque build-up in their arteries, even if they receive cholesterol-lowering therapies. New research published in the May 7th issue of the Cell Press journal Cell Metabolism reveals that high blood sugar levels also boost the production of inflammatory cells, which contribute to plaque build-up in blood vessels. The researchers identify the cause of this increased production in inflammatory cells and find that blocking this new pathway could help safeguard the heart health of diabetic patients.
"We ...
Biomechanical performances of old-fashioned leather and modern football helmets
2013-05-07
Charlottesville, VA (May 7, 2013). Researchers at the Center for Injury Biomechanics at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia compared the relative safety afforded by two 1930-vintage leather football helmets and 10 modern football helmets during impacts to players' heads. These researchers found that all 10 modern helmets provided significantly more protection than leather helmets used in the first half of the twentieth century, and demonstrated that differences also exist between modern helmets. Details on their methods and findings are found in "Biomechanical performance ...
Type 1 diabetes and heart disease linked by inflammatory protein
2013-05-07
NEW YORK, NY (May 7, 2013) — Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes appears to increase the risk of heart disease, the leading cause of death among people with high blood sugar, partly by stimulating the production of calprotectin, a protein that sparks an inflammatory process that fuels the buildup of artery-clogging plaque. The findings, made in mice and confirmed with human data, suggest new therapeutic targets for reducing heart disease in people with type 1 diabetes. Led by Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) researchers in collaboration with investigators at New ...
Study of new 'bone-head' hints at higher diversity of small dinosaurs
2013-05-07
Toronto, Canada – Scientists have named a new species of bone-headed dinosaur (pachycephalosaur) from Alberta, Canada. Acrotholus audeti (Ack-RHO-tho-LUS) was identified from both recently discovered and historically collected fossils. Approximately six feet long and weighing about 40 kgs in life, the newly identified plant-eating dinosaur represents the oldest bone-headed dinosaur in North America, and possibly the world. Research describing the new species is published May 7, 2013 in the journal Nature Communications.
Acrotholus means "high dome", referring to its ...
ASTRO and AUA issue joint guideline for radiation therapy after prostatectomy
2013-05-07
San Diego, May 7, 2013 – The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) and the American Urological Association (AUA) are pleased to announce the publication of the joint guideline on radiation therapy after prostatectomy for patients with and without evidence of prostate cancer recurrence. The 81-page document represents an intensive collaboration among experts in the radiation oncology and urology fields, led by Richard K. Valicenti, MD, MA, professor and chair of the department of radiation oncology at the University of California Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center ...
Discovery of new hormone opens doors to new type 2 diabetes treatments
2013-05-07
Boston, MA — Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) researchers have discovered that a particular type of protein (hormone) found in fat cells helps regulate how glucose (blood sugar) is controlled and metabolized (used for energy) in the liver. Using experimental models and state-of-the-art technology, the scientists found that switching off this protein leads to better control of glucose production from the liver, revealing a potential new target that may be used to treat type 2 diabetes and other metabolic diseases.
The study appears online in the May 7, 2013 issue ...
The more feathers a male sparrow carries to the nest, the more eggs the female will lay
2013-05-07
An international team lead by the University of Granada has found that female sparrows will invest more energy into laying eggs according to the male's ability to fill the nest with feathers which serve to insulate the chicks from the cold and keep them alive.
Scientists from the University of Granada, in collaboration with the South African University of the Witwatersrand and the Percy FitzPatrick Institute at the University of Cape Town, have discovered that the female house sparrow (Passer domesticus) invests more energy into laying eggs when the male brings more feathers ...
Laminopathies: Key components in the disease mechanism identified
2013-05-07
Laminopathies are hereditary diseases that affect mainly the muscle tissue. These diseases include for example Emery-Dreifuss Muscular dystrophy, dilated cardiomyopathy, limb-girdle muscular dystrophy and Hutchison-Gilford progeria syndrome.
The underlying defect in these diseases is mutation in the genes encoding lamins or lamin-associated proteins. For example, many mutations in the lamin gene LMNA have been associated with different diseases.
Lamins are crucial components of the nuclear lamina that underlies the inner side of nuclear envelope, and provides mechanical ...
High home ownership can seriously damage your labor market, new study suggests
2013-05-07
Government policies that boost the amount of home ownership in a country are likely to inflict severe damage on the labour market, new research from the University of Warwick suggests.
Professor Andrew Oswald from the University of Warwick and Professor David Blanchflower from Dartmouth College examine a century of unemployment and home ownership data for the states of the USA from 1900 to 2010. Combining those numbers with modern data on millions of randomly sampled Americans, the researchers show there is a powerful link between the housing market and the later health ...