Molecular Solar Ltd, a spinoff from the University of Warwick has made great progress in the solar energy field by managing to achieve the record-breaking 4 volts per cell in organic solar cells. That means that these photovoltaic cells now have the possibility of being produced for commercial uses in a wide range of consumer electronics.
“This is an important advance. We are now very close to having highly flexible organic photovoltaic cells that will be capable of delivering electrical energy at a voltage suitable for recharging lithium ion batteries that are widely used in portable consumer electronics. Remarkably, this high voltage is achieved using a cell with only 4 junctions (sub-cells),” claims Dr Ross Hatton, Research Director of the company.
Unlike conventional solar cells, Molecular Solar’s high voltage cells have a great advantage. A single cell can be used with no need to wire multiple cells in series for electronics applications, thus reducing the manufacturing cost.
To complete the up-scaling of their OPV and MS-Flexifilm electrode technology, Molecular Solar are currently finalizing a £5m investment round.
[via Physorg]
