♻️What are organic solar cells?
Organic solar cells – otherwise known as organic photovoltaic cells (OPV) – are the latest advancement in solar cell technology, and one quickly gaining the attention of industry professionals.
This is mainly due to their high performance, unprecedented ability to absorb light from the sun, and the technology’s amazing versatility
.How do organic solar cells work?
Organic solar cells follow the same process as both monocrystalline and polycrystalline silicon solar cells.
Each of these forms of solar cells produces electricity through what is known as the photovoltaic effect.The photovoltaic effect is the direct conversion of light into electricity at an atomic level.
The first stage of this process is the light absorption by the solar cell in the form of little bundles of energy, known as photons. The solar cell then knocks the photons causing electrons to come loose from the semiconducting material, after which they are received by electron acceptors.
– pros of organic solar cells:Low manufacturing cost: With the soluble structure of organic molecules, manufacturers can use a roll-to-roll system which is less expensive and more environmentally friendly than other manufacturing processes
.Abundance of materials: There is a very large supply of building block materials for organic solar cells. This should reduce supply and price constraints, further increasing your solar savings-
cons of organic solar cells:Power conversion efficiency: the cell efficiency of OPVs is far below that of traditional silicon cells. Silicon cells will typically reach an efficiency of between 20% – 25%.
Meanwhile, organic solar cells can currently only reach between 8%-12%.Lifespan: the lifespan of organic solar cells is far less compared to traditional solar cells. This is due to the organic materials degrading at a much faster rate when exposed to the environment.
✅ Future of organic solar cells
There is extensive research ongoing into the optimization of polymer solar cells on a large-scale basis.
Because the cells have a thin, flexible, and semi-transparent structure, they can be applied to areas where traditional cells cannot.
This is why OPV technology holds so much promise: it could allow surfaces such as windows, cars, or buildings to effectively generate solar power.