Scientific consensus for perovskite solar cells published in Nature Energy

Scientific consensus for perovskite solar cells published in Nature Energy

By Sune Holst, SDU, TEK Communication, suneholst@tek.sdu.dk
Translation: Zora Rubahn, zora@tek.sdu.dk

The so-called perovskite solar cells are on the cusp of becoming a commercial breakthrough but, despite promising results, it has been difficult to compare the scientific breakthroughs because of differences in the description of progress. Together with an international research group led by Monica Lira-Cantu (ICN2, Barcelona) as well as Eugene Katz and Mark Khenkin (Ben-Gurion University, Negev), the solar cell group at SDU NanoSYD in Sonderborg have released a statement on the description of progress in connection to the stability of perovskite solar cells. The statement is published in the highly acknowledged research magazine Nature Energy.

Read the entire article published in SDU MCI’s news feed.

RollFlex workshop at the MCI Industry Day 2019

RollFlex workshop at the MCI Industry Day 2019

On 4 November, the MCI Industry Day took place at Alsion. It was, among other things, characterised by the BHJ Award ceremony. A ceremony that was also characterised by RollFlex, because the BHJ Innovation Award was given to Jani Lamminaho from NanoSYD for his work in the R2R laboratory.

Auf die Preisverleihung folgten verschiedene Workshops – darunter auch der RollFlex Workshop zum Thema R2R innovative Filmproduktion mit smarten Materialien.

Following the award ceremony, a number of workshops were on the programme, one of them being the RollFlex workshop about R2R innovative film production with smart materials.

RollFlex workshop programme

After the talks by the RollFlex partners the afternoon ended with a tour through the labs.

View impressions of the workshop here:

Read more about the award of the BHJ Innovation Award 2019 here.

Transparent solar cells at the European Researchers‘ Night 2019

Transparent solar cells at the European Researchers‘ Night 2019

Like in previous years, Martina Gerken and her group from Kiel University presented the RollFlex technology and results at the European Researchers‘ Night 2019 to a young and old science-interested audience.

In Rendsburg, children and grown-ups alike could experience, how the RollFlex solar cell foil can be integrated into the windows of our houses to generate energy.

With the LEGO house, visitors could see how solar cell foils can be integrated into our windows to generate energy.

Kids are trying out the roll-to-roll principle.

“Amazing how such a small thing can generate so much energy” (Fabian, 11 years)

Prof. Martina Gerken presents flexible solar cell foils and OLEDs from the project.

The RollFlex team from KiNSIS

Images and captions: CAU, Kiel Nano, Surface and Interface Science (KiNSIS)

More information about the European Researchers‘ Night 2019 can be found on Kiel University’s homepage (in German).

The European Researchers‘ Night is an event supported by the EU programme Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions with participants from more than 25 European countries. The purpose of the event is to bring researchers closer to the public in general and specifically to young people to show how their science has an impact on our daily lives.

Organic solar cells – even greener solar energy and the architects’ dream

Organic solar cells – even greener solar energy and the architects’ dream

By Sune Holst, SDU, TEK Communication, suneholst@tek.sdu.dk
Translation: Zora Rubahn, zora@tek.sdu.dk

These days, the 100% Climate Neutrality conference is taking place at Alsion in Sonderborg. The conference focuses on bringing solutions into play regarding the climate challenges the world is facing. One of the solutions brought into play are organic solar cells that are on the point of having their industrial breakthrough.

Solar energy is the cleanest and most natural form of energy that we have. Within just three hours, the world’s surface is irradiated by the sun to an extent equalling the world’s annual energy consumption. This is why solar cells are an important part of the green transition, if we are to prevent a temperature rise of more than 2 degrees which has been the world’s declared climate goal since the Paris Agreement in 2015.

Read the entire article that has been published in SDU MCI’s newsfeed.

RollFlex at the New Energy fair in Husum, March 2019

RollFlex at the New Energy fair in Husum, March 2019

As in previous years, the RollFlex project was present at the New Energy fair in Husum in 2019 – one of the most important fairs within renewable energies in Northern Germany.

Organised by Prof. Martina Gerken from Kiel University, the main purpose of this years’s participation was to inform the numerous stakeholders and network partners about the latest project results.

The four project partners presented their work – the development of organic solar cells and organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) by the use of roll-to-roll technology – and gave the present stakeholders and company representatives a comprehensive overview of the possibilities for cooperation with the RollFlex Centre.

Impressions from the workshop: Top left the audience during the talks, top right and bottom left the speakers Prof. Martina Gerken from Kiel University and Lars Lindvold from Stenborg and top right the participants looking at the exhibits.
RollFlex at the New Energy Husum on 21 March 2019

In addition, the project partners had the pleasure to disclose the project extension which primarily aims at intensifying the existing good collaboration with numerous companies and stakeholders and developing a business model for further collaboration with the RollFlex Centre.

Finally, interested visitors could look at the achieved project results in applied examples. Thus, old and new solar cell modules and OLEDs were presented. Due to improved contacts, the new models are now easier and cheaper to produce and also more effective because of decreased losses.

Illustrated by a new LEGO model house with integrated organic solar cells and equipped with OLEDs, the project partners could show how the energy that is generated by the solar cells can be measured and used for driving the OLEDs. New Zinc oxide nanostructures in the solar cells and OLEDs developed by project partner Phi-Stone enhance their light scattering.

Left: a model of a flexible, organic solar cell with improved contacts; right: the LEGO model house with solar cells integrated into the windows, an energy metre on the roof and lighting OLED letters.
Left: a model of a flexible, organic solar cell with improved contacts; right: the LEGO model house with solar cells integrated into the windows, an energy metre on the roof and lighting OLED letters.

The project partner Stensborg showed their nanostructured silver foils with integrated electrodes which have been tested positive for the development of solar cells and OLEDs with increased efficiency.

Altogether, the feedback from the stakeholders was very positive and a lot of new contacts were established. These are now going to be intensified during the project extension.

RollFlex Workshop on New Energy Husum 2018

Roll-to-roll fabrication of solar cells and OLEDs

On March 16, RollFlex arranged a workshop within the framework of the FURGY CLEAN INNOVATION – CONGRESS 2018 at the New energy Husum 2018. It consisted of an internal and an external part and aimed at strengthening the dialogue with the project network partners and companies. The programme included talks by invited speakers, a presentation of the demonstrators developed in the project and the possibility to network about future industry collaborations with RollFlex.
Click to download as PDF
   

17 JAN: Blocks and spheres, rods and coils; bending polymers into straight lines for photovoltaics

17 JAN: Blocks and spheres, rods and coils; bending polymers into straight lines for photovoltaics

Talk by Dr Roger C. Hiorns, IPREM, France

Wednesday, 17 January 2018, SDU, Alsion, room U205 at 5 pm

 

Abstract:

Organic photovoltaic devices are undergoing a steady revolution in efficiencies and stability. The 10% and 10‐year barriers for lab‐scale materials have long since been broken. A massive challenge remains, however, in transferring this exciting technology to the market place. For fast roll‐to-roll printing, polymers tick all the right boxes, including their applicability to ink‐based technologies. But trying to control their behaviour over large surfaces so that thin layers can be regularly formed is difficult. While large‐scale stabilities are good, large modules (>50 cm2) have efficiencies of around 6% at most, and when going to very large‐scale modules (>1 m2), 3 to 5% is more common.

Block copolymers have been known for decades to improve the structural strength and regularity of polymers. When cast from solution, they form microphase domains of the order of tens of nanometers due to the repulsive tendencies of the constitutive blocks. This scale is perfect for controlling excitonic formation and charge transfer through organic devices. This lecture will give a general introduction to block copolymers for organic photovoltaic devices and then look at some of recent advances in this field.

RollFlex brochures

RollFlex brochures

View and download RollFlex brochure material with information about the project.

What is RollFlex? Here's the answer in a nutshell. For a larger view, you can download the presentation as a
Welcome to our English RollFlex brochure. It provides you with a good insight into our project. You can read the

Talk about the symbiosis of urban living spaces and energy generation

On Tuesday, 16 January 2018, Dr. Sebastian Meier from OPVIUS GmbH in Nuremberg will visit the RollFlex Center at the Mads Clausen Institute to talk about the symbiosis of urban living spaces and energy generation at the SDU Energy Club.

The talk will address the power harvesting properties of different photovoltaic technologies in the context of real life applications and it will be clarified why this has little to do with what people call “power conversion efficiency”. Moreover, it will be also discussed why organic photovoltaics (OPV) is the enabler technology for building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) and why BIPV is in fact no PV product anylonger, but rather a construction material. Finally, the latest BIPV-related projects OPVIUS has realized recently will be highlighted in detail.

To the abstract

The Symbiosis of Urban Living Space and Energy Generation – Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV)