UNIVERSITY of CALIFORNIA, SANTA BARBARA

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Light Absorbing Polymeric Material for Organic Photovoltaic Devices

Tech ID: 22218 / UC Case 2011-170-0

Brief Description

A novel light absorbing conjugated polymeric electron donor material for use in organic photovoltaic devices.

Background

Organic photovoltaic devices (OPV) are low-cost and highly scalable compared to other inorganic photovoltaic technologies. Currently the most efficient devices employ a bulk heterojunction (BHJ) architecture. The major drawback to OPVs is in their relatively low power conversion efficiency compared with their inorganic counterparts. Power conversion efficiency depends on several factors, including the donor-acceptor morphology, processing conditions and orbital energy levels.

Description

Researchers at the University of California, Santa Barbara have developed a novel light absorbing conjugated polymeric electron donor material for use in organic photovoltaic devices. Lab tests demonstrate that the polymeric material blended with a BHJ device achieves power conversion efficiency improvements of up to 60%. This novel donor material represents a new class of light absorbing polymers that shows promise for improving the performance of OPV devices. The organic solar cells produced using these polymeric materials are low-cost and highly scalable.

Advantages

  • Improved power conversion efficiency up to 60%
  • Improved performance OPVs
  • Low-cost
  • Highly scalable

Applications

  • Organic photovoltaic devices

 

This technology is available for licensing.

Patent Status

Country Type Number Dated Case
United States Of America Published Application 2013032791 02/07/2013 2011-170
Patent Cooperation Treaty Published Application WO2012/178116 12/27/2012 2011-170
 

Inventors

  • Azoulay, Jason D.
  • Bazan, Guillermo C.
  • Caputo, Bruno J.

Other Information

Categorized As

Related cases

2011-170-0

Keywords

Photovoltaic, Heterojunction, Solar

Contact

Shaun R. Juncal / juncal@tia.ucsb.edu / tel: View Phone Number. Please reference Tech ID #22218.

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