SOLARJET: Towards printed PV solar cells for ultra low-cost energy

Organic photovoltaics (OPV) have become an exciting topic due to their potential for flexible and light weight energy sources. In parallel, significant developments have been made over the last years with organic solar cells reaching more than 5% conversion efficiency at a laboratory scale. Futhermore, everybody agrees that OPV can potentially be one of the cheapest photovoltaic technologies. Starting from this state of the art, the SOLARJET project consortium has been created bringing together French partners, ARDEJE, HUTCHINSON and CEA/LITEN, to demonstrate that OPV technology can be scaled up to an industrial step.

 

The goal is to demonstrate the versatility of organic thin-film solar cell technology by printing OPV solar module prototypes on the SOLARJET printing platform developed during the project. The partners believe that this will show the potential of this low-cost technology. In fact, their low weight, thinness and flexibility will allow their integration into wearable electronics objects easily for outdoor and indoor applications in order to provide them low-cost clean and renewable energy, even disposable. The objective is also to create new markets.

 

The process involves functional fluids deposited by jetting, which is a well-known technique for its high efficiency. In fact, fluid jetting is a non-contact direct writing technique allowing controlled deposition over a large area on a large variety of substrates and reduces environmental impact by saving materials and energy compared to other printing techniques.

 

ARDEJE, the project coordinator, is working jointly with HUTCHINSON and CEA/LITEN. This work is aiming at developing advanced fluid jetting manufacturing equipment as a smart production tool for solar cells manufacturers. Customized print modules, functional fluids and solar cell architectures are developed jointly to meet the requirements and to ensure scalability to production. The consortium will also address the key point of protection against moisture and oxygen for OPV solar cells. The research will be focused on high-value plastic films and encapsulations with high barrier properties to improve OPV solar cells lifetime. The partners are developing a flexible technology in order to integrate disruptive developments in the future, in particular materials.

 

Ending in 2011, the project will propose an advanced OPV process and its associated manufacturing equipments to address customer goods market (packaging, clothing, ...).

 

SOLARJET Project is supported by fundings from "Direction Générale des Entreprise (DGE)", "Région Rhône-Alpes" and "Conseil Général de la Drôme".

 

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