The methodology, detailed in a recent Nature Chemistry paper, “will greatly accelerate research in this area,” stated Bazan, “by making possible the rapid production of different batches of polymers for evaluation.” He further noted, “We plan to take advantage of this approach both to generate new materials that will increase solar cell efficiencies and operational lifetimes, and to reevaluate previously-considered polymer structures that should exhibit much higher performance than they showed initially.”
To make these gains, the team replaced conventional thermal heating with microwave heating, modified reactant concentrations, and varied the ratio of reactants by only 5% from the nominal 1:1 stoichiometric ratio normally employed in polymerization reactions.
A lowered time of production means lowered costs, which translates into lower prices. Bazan’s polymer production method cuts the overall production time to half of what it was before. I don’t really believe the solar cells’ price will be cut in half, but it helps a lot, anyway.