The research team of the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) Photoelectric Hybrid Power Research Center has developed a large-area and high-efficiency organic solar cell by coating the solar cell raw material solution and controlling its curing speed .
If there is a photovoltaic material that can be made in the form of paint and coated on various surfaces such as the exterior of buildings or cars, it will be possible to achieve energy self-sufficiency and provide low-cost and environmentally friendly energy for energy-poor areas . This kind of technology makes it very easy to install photovoltaic technology, even on urban buildings, and this photovoltaic panel can be maintained by repainting.
Solution-processed solar cells work by coating solar cell solutions on the surface and cannot be used in industrial applications. At present, due to the limitations of materials and processes, the performance of such large-area photovoltaic solar cells is degraded, production is difficult, and commercialization is difficult.
The KIST team revealed that commercial organic materials are easy to crystallize and are therefore not suitable for large-area solution processing. The solvent dissolved in the solar cell material will form a film after evaporation. This process is very slow and will cause agglomeration and other phenomena, thereby reducing the efficiency of the solar cell. However, in laboratory research, the researchers used a small area process-spin coating method, which can quickly rotate the substrate during the film formation process to accelerate the evaporation of the solvent, so that the film can be formed without reducing efficiency .
Based on this information, KIST researchers have developed a high-performance, large-area organic photovoltaic solar cell by controlling the evaporation rate of the solvent during the large-area film formation process to form the most suitable film for solar cell performance. The energy conversion efficiency of the solar cell is 30% higher.