The National Research Foundation of Korea announced last week that Kyungpook National University has developed a technique for forming nano-scale dots on an electron layer, leading to high efficiency organic solar cells that can be made via a simple process.
Organic solar cells (which generate energy by sunlight received on organic semiconductors), excel at optical absorption and are incredibly easy to manufacture. However, there have been safety issues in the past related to the high acidity levels of the materials used as “positive hole-collecting layers”. Many countries have been researching special techniques to get around this such as using metal oxide-coated electron collection layers instead of the more acidic materials.
But the Korean team created a special type of polymeric nanodots. “What we have developed at this time has achieved an efficiency of 10.74 percent, the highest level in the world for single-layer organic solar cells,” the university’s researchers explained, adding, “Its improved adhesion properties will contribute to the service life of organic solar cell elements as well.”
Furthermore, “In addition, it can be manufactured in a simpler, cheaper and more efficient way than existing metal oxide coating materials, and thus will be able to accelerate the commercialization of organic solar cells”.
SOURCE: Business Korea.
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