Comments on: Transparent Solar Film Gets Big Efficiency Boost

By: Steeple

Steeple — Wed, 31 Jul 2013 21:50:00 +0000

Thanks for that, Matthew

By: Matthew Crane

Matthew Crane — Wed, 31 Jul 2013 21:34:00 +0000

There should be no issues here. The current is entirely contained in the device, which could be directly contacted by leads, and is likely to be encapsulated (for lifetime issues) in it’s final form. Corrosion on the building simply won’t happen.

In this case the electrodes are made of tin-doped indium oxide (ITO), Ag nanowires, and a conductive polymer (PFN).

By: Matthew Crane

Matthew Crane — Wed, 31 Jul 2013 21:32:00 +0000

OPV tends to hold up well in installed conditions: heat (due to thermalization or environment) improves performance, compared with inorganic technologies, where it inhibits efficiencies. In addition, it is strongly capable of high absorption of diffuse light.

Very nice article on costs of OPV technology. This analysis on a 7% efficiency device with ~5 year lifetime suggests a levelized energy cost of between 0.25 and 0.66 $/kW-hr. But, this is only for a single junction cell and assumes a solar field installation size. Interestingly, most of the cost stems from the substrate. If this could be alleviated, a lot of this technology would be close or immediately economically viable.

“Economic assessment of solar electricity production from organic-based photovoltaic modules in a domestic environment”

By: Wayne Williamson

Wayne Williamson — Tue, 30 Jul 2013 22:59:00 +0000

Marion, it looks like to me it would be more in the range of 73 Watts/m2 in full sun…

By: Steeple

Steeple — Tue, 30 Jul 2013 17:27:00 +0000

What are the issues involved in having electric current flowing from a disparate sources such as windows, building skins, etc…? Just thinking that there might be some safety issues or even potential corrosion issues from current flowing outside of traditional electric circuitry. Appreciate any insight here.

By: Marion Meads

Marion Meads — Tue, 30 Jul 2013 13:43:00 +0000

Let us hope it works very well with diffused light and not require direct sunlight.