G8 Initiative: Ink-jet Printed Single-Crystal Organic Photovoltaics

这个跨国研究项目将探索生产低成本电子设备的制造问题，主要关注用于发电的太阳能电池。在基础层面上，研究人员将在使用印刷方法制造低成本、高速设备所需的严格条件下密集筛选当前一代材料。这些初步调查的数据将用于该项目的材料设计部分，以优化分子结构，专门用于喷墨打印。在整个过程中，对高质量晶体中的材料进行深入研究将产生所制备化合物的固有电子特性，这将用作印刷器件中发现的电子特性的基准；最终目标是开发出一种材料，在高速制造过程中形成的材料和在小心的慢膜生长实验室实验中形成的材料一样好。这种新材料将用于制造太阳能电池、固态照明板和平板显示器，使用低成本的喷墨印刷代替传统的（昂贵的）光刻技术。该项目的结果将对低成本、柔性电子产品的制造非常有用，为此目的的工业合作是该项目的一部分。特别是超低成本的太阳能电池将大大缓解全球面临的许多能源供应问题。此外，该项目将利用来自植物的化学原料，而不是石油原料，以帮助利用美国令人印象深刻的农业基础设施来解决可再生能源发电问题。人们希望这些成本较低的太阳能电池板能够更快地提供投资回报，从而促进市场对可再生能源技术的采用。

This multinational research project will explore manufacturing issues for the production of low-cost electronic devices, focusing primarily on solar cells for power generation. At a fundamental level, the researchers will intensively screen current generation materials under the rigorous conditions necessary for low-cost, high-speed device fabrication using printing methods. Data from these initial investigations will feed into the materials design part of this project, to optimize molecular structure specifically for use in inkjet printing. Throughout the process, in-depth studies of the materials in high-quality crystals will yield the intrinsic electronic properties of the compounds prepared, which will be used as a benchmark for the electronic properties found in printed devices; the ultimate goal is to develop a materials set that performs just as well when formed under high-speed manufacturing processes as it does in careful slow-film-growth laboratory experiments. The new material sets will be used to create solar cells, solid-state lighting panels and flat-panel displays using low-cost inkjet printing instead of traditional (and expensive) photolithography techniques.The results of this project will be immensely useful to the manufacture of low-cost, flexible electronics, and industrial collaborations to this end are part of the project. Ultra-low-cost solar cells in particular will do much to alleviate many of the energy supply issues faced worldwide. Furthermore, this project will exploit chemical feedstocks derived from plant-based sources, rather than petroleum sources, to help harness the Nation's impressive agricultural infrastructure to solving renewable power generation issues. It is hoped that these reduced cost solar panels, which inherently offer a much more rapid return on investment, will enhance the market's adoption of renewable energy technologies.