Staff at Plextronics believe that 20% efficiency will be possible for printed polymer photovoltaics in due course. They should know because they report no theoretical limit and real world progress in improving efficiency that is most impressive. Indeed, Plextronics has a detailed technical program for step by step improvement of the compounds used, with every prospect of getting to 10% efficiency before many years have passed.
The number of organisations backing organic printed transistors may number as many as one hundred and they usually declare that the first volume applications - for example where area is not a problem or power demand is modest - are economic at only 5% efficiency, a figure that is now achieved. Here are some slides from Plextronics that were presented at the Printed Electronics Asia conference in Tokyo September 10-11, staged by IDTechEx. They show that the potential applications are not just huge in the military sector and they track the performance improvements.
Photovoltaics and multi-functional printed electronics will be extensively covered in Printed Electronics USA, November 2007. Also read Printed and Thin Film Photovoltaics and Batteries.
