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Nanostructured solar cells from soft-imprint lithography

Projects:
IGERT: ConvEne--Conversion of Energy Through Molecular...
Institution:
University of California at Santa Barbara
Primary Strategic Goal:
Discovery: Foster research that will advance the frontiers of knowledge, emphasizing areas of greatest opportunity and potential benefit and establishing the Nation as a global leader in fundamental transformational science and engineering.
Secondary Strategic Goal:
Research Infrastructure: Build the Nation's research capability through critical investments in advanced instrumentation, facilities, cyber infrastructure, and experimental tools.

Achievement/Results

IGERT trainee Neil Treat, along with IGERT co-PI Craig Hawker, and faculty adviser Michael Chabinyc, has been working on the use of inexpensive techniques for the simple, bench-top fabrication of solar cells that combine organic semiconductors with inorganic components.

The technique involves the use of soft imprint lithography. By using a stamping materials which can pattern sub-100 nm features in a fast and reliable manner, patterns of TiOx were generated using a TiOx sol. The patterns were then filled with a P3HT:PCBM bulk heterojunction followed by evaporation of a gold electrode to generate an ordered bulk heterojunction solar cell.

Address Goals

The primary goal is addressed since the resulting solar cells are at the cutting edge of photovoltaic technology, and display great potential for large scale manufacture. In addition, the collaboration is leading to the establishment of a organic photovoltaic test facility here at UCSB that will aid researchers here and elsewhere.

Posted By:
Ram Seshadri
Posted:
November 28, 2010