High-efficiency Block Copolymer Solar Cells: A Scaleable Prototype for Low Cost Energy Generation

广泛实施光伏发电以满足不断变化的能源需求，需要光伏发电成本的阶梯式变化。这项提议汇集了来自伦敦帝国理工学院以及曼彻斯特大学、谢菲尔德大学和达勒姆大学的化学家、物理学家和材料科学家组成的财团，以生产具有高功率转换效率并可以经济高效地批量生产的新型聚合物太阳能电池原型。我们提出了新的聚合物太阳能电池设计，将灵活性与廉价的材料和基于解决方案的工艺相结合。在一种方法中，使用嵌段共聚物来指导纳米结构薄膜的形成，以提供高效率的聚合物太阳能电池。在第二种方法中，嵌段共聚物将用于在纳米结构薄膜中直接结晶。光学和电学特性的独立优化，加上理论建模输入，将提供最大化功率转换效率的设计规则。该项目将制定战略，以扩大具有最高效率的设备设计。我们的目标是构建负担得起且可扩展的聚合物太阳能电池，其能量转换效率至少为7%。

Widespread implementation of photovoltaic electricity to meet changing energy demands requires a step-change in the cost of photovoltaic power. This proposal assembles a consortium of chemists, physicists and materials scientists from Imperial College London and the universities of Manchester, Sheffield and Durham to produce new prototype polymer solar cells that have high power conversion efficiencies and could be mass produced cost effectively. We propose new polymer solar cell designs that integrate flexibility with inexpensive materials and solution based processing. In one approach, block copolymers are used to direct formation of nanostructured thin films to provide high efficiency polymer solar cells. In a second approach, block copolymers will be used to direct crystallisation within nanostructured films. Independent optimisation of the optical and electronic properties, together with theoretical modelling input, will provide design rules for maximising power conversion efficiency. The project will establish strategies for scaling up the device designs which have the highest efficiencies. Our objective is to construct affordable and scalable polymer solar cells that have an energy conversion efficiency of at least 7%.