SBIR Phase II: Transparent Molecular Photovoltaic Devices

这个小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第二阶段项目将通过保持现有建筑材料的美学和室内自然照明的质量，为建筑光伏的采用提供前所未有的自由。这种独特的方法可实现光伏发电成本的0.05-0.1美元/千瓦时，方法是：(1)在利用点产生10%-40%的DC建筑电力，消除对DC-AC-DC电力电子的需求，(2)通过拒绝红外太阳能热，同时减少建筑冷却需求10%-30%，提高有效光伏效率(绝对值)5%以上，以及(3)利用现有建筑围护结构的材料、安装、框架、客户获取和维护，降低50%以上的非模块化成本。该项目还将产生核心知识，以此为基础设计未来几代透明光伏器件和材料。明显透明的光伏还可以在电子显示屏和移动电子配件等非窗口表面无缝收集能量，在不影响美学或功能的情况下增强这些产品的功能。这个小型企业创新研究第一阶段项目开发了一种变革性的可见透明的光伏设备。建筑集成光伏是一种很有前途的能源途径，可以捕获大面积的太阳能，并在使用点提高美国建筑的效率。然而，这种技术的广泛采用受到在壁板和窗户上安装传统光伏电池的成本和美观的严重阻碍。在这个项目中，这些挑战是通过利用分子和有机半导体的激子特性来克服的，这些激子特性导致振荡器聚束来产生具有选择性吸收的光伏结构，即表现出与传统无机半导体的能带吸收独一无二的可见极小、紫外(UV)和近红外(NIR)极大值。通过使用在UV/NIR中具有结构吸收的激子分子半导体，这些器件同时优化了高功率转换效率、可见光透过率和显色指数。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will enable unprecedented freedom for architectural photovoltaic adoption by maintaining the aesthetics of existing building materials and the quality of natural indoor lighting. This unique approach offers to achieve levelized photovoltaic energy costs of 0.05-0.1 $/kWhr by (1) producing 10-40% of DC building electricity at the point of utilization, eliminating the need for DC-AC-DC power electronics, (2) simultaneously reducing building cooling demands 10-30% through rejection of infrared solar heat, increasing the effective PV efficiency by over 5% (absolute), and (3) piggybacking on the materials, installation, framing, customer acquisition, and maintenance of the existing building envelope, reducing non-module costs by over 50%. This project will also result in a core knowledge from which future generations of transparent photovoltaic devices and materials will be designed. Visibly transparent photovoltaics are also amenable to seamless energy harvesting within non-window surfaces such as electronic displays and mobile electronic accessories, enhancing the functionality of those products without impacting aesthetics or functionality. This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project develops a transformational visibly transparent photovoltaic device. Building-integrated photovoltaics are a promising energy pathway to capturing large areas of solar energy and increasing US building efficiency at the point of utilization. However, the widespread adoption of such technologies is severely hampered by the cost and aesthetics associated with mounting traditional photovoltaic cells on siding and windows. In this project, these challenges are overcome by exploiting the excitonic character of molecular and organic semiconductors that lead to oscillator bunching to produce photovoltaic architectures with selective absorption, i.e. exhibiting visible minima and ultra-violet (UV) and near-infrared (NIR) maxima, uniquely distinct from the band-absorption of traditional inorganic semiconductors. By using excitonic molecular semiconductors with structured absorption in the UV/NIR these devices are simultaneously optimized for high power conversion efficiency, visible light transmission, and color rendering index.