Advanced Dyes for Printed Organic Photovoltaics

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This research proposal aims to develop advanced power sources that can convert indoor light into electricity to operate electronic sensors for the internet of things (IoT) - an emerging trillion-dollar industry that impacts all human life. The proposed new technology is termed 'indoor photovoltaics'. The technology is based on current organic photovoltaics that can be made flexible, lightweight, rollable, semi-transparent and of different colours at an ultra-low dollar per-watt cost. Using new chemistry principles, photoactive materials design, device engineering, advanced printing and electrical connections, the project aims to deliver fully functional indoor power devices ready for market evaluation. The proposed concept is new and expected to have a broad impact on Canada's and the UK's energy, communication and manufacturing sectors. The proposed chemistries are unique and should lead to paradigm shifts in the view of molecular self-assembly of organic photoactive materials. The ability to fabricate fully printed devices and integrate them into circuits all at once is the key strength of this proposal and serves to immediately validate or invalidate specific materials and/or device designs to ensure objectives are met in a timely fashion. The development of prototypes at the University level enables faster innovations and will allow this technology to bridge the infamous "valley-of-death" laboratory to market transition. The iOPV technology embodies a new paradigm in photovoltaics fabrication using solution-processable materials that can be delivered under ambient conditions (much like ink printed on paper). The simple additive manufacturing process mitigates CO2 production by requiring significantly less energy than traditional lithography-based methods. In addition, the potential for large scale roll-to-roll processing requires only a small capital investment, allowing for localised manufacturing. Printing equipment can tremendously reduce human interaction and the labour required for mass production. Thus, this can promote cost-effective local manufacturing for electronic devices.