SBIR Phase I: Fabrication of Organic Photovoltaic Solar Panel Using Ink Jet Technology

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This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will develop low cost / high volume manufacturing methods for plastic organic solar cells. Ink jet printing will be utilized because it is an additive technology with low pollution, that is non-contact and digitally controlled (flexible). Recent promising developments in the field of organic photovoltaic cells cannot be taken directly to production because there is no manufacturing technology suitable for making them in volume at lowest cost. This project will use the unique microscale printing ability of ink jet technology to precisely deposit the active materials by printing on plastic substrates to form photovoltaic solar cells arrays. The current organic bulk heterojunction material systems are most suited to ink jet printing and show improved performance over their predecessors. This project will use single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWNT), and poly (3-octylthiophene) (P3OT). These materials represent some of the newest work in the field. The commercial potential of this technology will be low cost, plastic film-based solar cells.