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‘Printable’ organic solar cells may be coming soon from Australia
A team of Australian scientists invented "printable" organic solar cells which may substitute current silicon panels in the near future, producing energy efficiency savings of +10%.
For some time now, organic photovoltaic devices, photovoltaic paint and other similar applications have been recurrent subjects of discussion, but the problem with that, still unsolved, regards their efficiency: do these new photovoltaic technology have the same efficiency and price as current silicon panels?
The challenge seems to have been won by a team of Australian scientists who invented a "printable" organic paint, printable through a commercial printer amended accordingly, which can be applied to a plastic film, producing energy efficiency savings of +10% compared to current silicon modules.
The only step still to be overcome seems to be the duration of these photovoltaic cells, estimated to be approximately 10 years (compared to the 20year duration of current modules available on the market), even though CSIRO scientists, along with two Australian universities and other private entities, seem optimistic on this front.
When will this technology be available on the market? "We estimate that this research has another five years of development required before these cells are ready to commercialise and deploy into homes and workplaces", CSIRO web site reports.
With regard to the cost, however, scientists say that "It is not possible at this stage to give indicative unit pricing for these products. What we can say is that even small improvements in energy conversion efficiency, product durability and the capacity for large-scale production of organic polymers will make a compelling economic case for the widespread adoption of organic photovoltaic solar cell technologies. By way of example it will take just 10 tonnes of plastic to produce 100,000 of OPV solar cell film, (about the same amount required to produce a container of plastic bags). 100,000 km of solar cell film produced per year will generate the equivalent energy production from a conventional coal fired or nuclear power station”.
The possible applications of this technology could already be noticed: it could be used for energy consumption in buildings, for example, or, on a smaller scale, to recharge tablets, smartphones and notebooks, motor vehicles or any other electronic device. In short, the applications are virtually endless. We have to wait quite a bit longer to see if this technology will actually be the winning for clean energy production.
For more information: www.csiro.au
The challenge seems to have been won by a team of Australian scientists who invented a "printable" organic paint, printable through a commercial printer amended accordingly, which can be applied to a plastic film, producing energy efficiency savings of +10% compared to current silicon modules.
The only step still to be overcome seems to be the duration of these photovoltaic cells, estimated to be approximately 10 years (compared to the 20year duration of current modules available on the market), even though CSIRO scientists, along with two Australian universities and other private entities, seem optimistic on this front.
When will this technology be available on the market? "We estimate that this research has another five years of development required before these cells are ready to commercialise and deploy into homes and workplaces", CSIRO web site reports.
With regard to the cost, however, scientists say that "It is not possible at this stage to give indicative unit pricing for these products. What we can say is that even small improvements in energy conversion efficiency, product durability and the capacity for large-scale production of organic polymers will make a compelling economic case for the widespread adoption of organic photovoltaic solar cell technologies. By way of example it will take just 10 tonnes of plastic to produce 100,000 of OPV solar cell film, (about the same amount required to produce a container of plastic bags). 100,000 km of solar cell film produced per year will generate the equivalent energy production from a conventional coal fired or nuclear power station”.
The possible applications of this technology could already be noticed: it could be used for energy consumption in buildings, for example, or, on a smaller scale, to recharge tablets, smartphones and notebooks, motor vehicles or any other electronic device. In short, the applications are virtually endless. We have to wait quite a bit longer to see if this technology will actually be the winning for clean energy production.
For more information: www.csiro.au
