Advanced Dyes for Printed Organic Photovoltaics

这项研究提案旨在开发能够将室内光线转换为电能的先进电源，以操作物联网(IoT)的电子传感器。物联网是一个影响所有人类生活的万亿美元新兴产业。这项拟议中的新技术被称为“室内光伏”。这项技术基于目前的有机光伏，可以以超低的每瓦成本制造出灵活、轻便、可卷曲、半透明和不同颜色的光伏。该项目利用新的化学原理、光活性材料设计、设备工程、先进的打印和电气连接，旨在提供功能齐全的室内电力设备，供市场评估。拟议中的概念是新的，预计将对加拿大和英国的能源、通信和制造业产生广泛影响。所提出的化学是独一无二的，应该会导致有机光活性材料分子自组装观点的范式转变。制造完全印刷的器件并将其一次性集成到电路中的能力是该提案的关键优势，并用于立即验证或使特定材料和/或器件设计无效，以确保及时实现目标。在大学一级开发原型可以实现更快的创新，并将使这项技术成为臭名昭著的“死亡谷”实验室向市场过渡的桥梁。IOPV技术体现了光伏制造中的一种新范式，使用可在环境条件下提供的溶液可加工材料(很像打印在纸上的墨水)。与传统的基于光刻的方法相比，这种简单的添加剂制造工艺需要的能源明显更少，从而减少了二氧化碳的产生。此外，大规模卷对卷加工的潜力只需要很小的资本投资，允许本地化制造。印刷设备可以极大地减少人类互动和大规模生产所需的劳动力。因此，这可以促进具有成本效益的电子设备的本地制造。

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.