Organic Photovoltaics

Organic photovoltaics offers unique potential for the generation of environmentally friendly electrical energy. The semiconducting materials essentially consist of hydrocarbons, ranging from small molecules to polymers. The layers of organic solar cells are around 1000 times thinner than crystalline silicon solar cells, ranging from a few nanometers for certain contact layers to several hundred nanometers for the light-absorbing layers. This makes them extremely light, flexible and unbreakable, determined solely by the packaging. Due to the low material consumption, the simple processing with printing and coating processes and the avoidance of critical elements such as lead or cadmium, the ecological footprint is extremely small.

OPV technology has the potential to further increase CO₂ savings through photovoltaics and drastically reduce energy recovery times. As the materials are carbon-based, it is even conceivable in the long term to produce them synthetically from CO₂, provided that such technologies, such as Power-to-X, can be established in the future. The molecularly shaped optical properties open up unrivaled adaptability, so that a wide variety of types of solar cells can be developed, from classic single-junction solar cells with efficiency potential of at least 20% (19% has already been achieved in the laboratory), to multi-junction solar cells with potential for even higher efficiencies or solar cells specially adapted to artificial light sources, to spectrally selective solar cells that are highly transparent in the visible spectral range and use UV and infrared light to generate electricity. As a result, this technology can enable innovative products such as floating photovoltaic films, electricity-generating awnings, window panes and greenhouses, particularly in integrated photovoltaics.  In the short term, initial applications as an energy source for wireless sensor technology in the areas of production, logistics and smart homes appear feasible. 

This extraordinary potential motivates us to work with our partners to tackle the existing challenges in terms of efficiency, long-term stability, scaling up to modules and production processes in a targeted and application-specific manner.