Advanced Dyes for Printed Organic Photovoltaics

该研究计划的目标是开发先进的电源，将室内光线转换为电能，为影响所有人类生活的数万亿美元规模的新兴产业物联网（IoT）的电子传感器供电。提出的新技术被称为“室内光伏”。该技术基于当前的有机光伏电池，这种电池可以柔性、轻质、可卷曲、半透明和不同颜色，每瓦成本极低。利用新的化学原理、光活性材料设计、设备工程、先进的印刷和电气连接，该项目旨在提供功能齐全的室内电源设备，为市场评估做好准备。提出的概念是新的，预计将对加拿大和英国的能源、通信和制造业产生广泛的影响。提出的化学是独特的，应该导致范式转变的观点，分子自组装的有机光活性材料。制造完全印刷设备并将其集成到电路中的能力是该提案的关键优势，并有助于立即验证或取消特定材料和/或设备设计，以确保及时满足目标。在大学层面开发原型可以加快创新速度，并将使这项技术在臭名昭著的“死亡之谷”实验室与市场过渡之间架起一座桥梁。iOPV技术体现了光伏制造的一个新范例，使用溶液可加工的材料，可以在环境条件下交付（很像印刷在纸上的墨水）。简单的增材制造工艺比传统的基于光刻的方法需要更少的能源，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的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本地电子设备制造。

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.