Integrated in situ solar cell fabrication and measurement system

太阳能是地球上最丰富、最容易获得、最可持续和最清洁的能源。收集太阳能的最理想的方法是利用光伏（PV）器件或太阳能电池将光能转换成便于运输、分配和使用的电能。由于对新的清洁和可再生能源的需求不断增加，聚合物太阳能电池在过去几年中一直是广泛研究的主题。 尽管过去几年OPV的性能有了很大提高，功率转换效率超过16%，但在聚合物太阳能电池商业化之前仍存在面积较小、稳定性差和材料成本高等挑战。申请人正在与加拿大工业伙伴合作，就开发新的聚合物材料以解决这些问题进行研究，并取得了非常有希望的成果。然而，滑铁卢大学目前用于制造和测试太阳能电池的设备设置在某些步骤中将设备暴露在环境空气中，这导致材料和设备性能的巨大变化和低估。申请的资金将用于购买急需的仪器，以及申请人实验室现有的工具，以完成美国最先进的集成原位太阳能电池制造和测量系统。滑铁卢该系统将支持和推动申请人和美国其他研究小组的聚合物太阳能电池研究。Waterloo，并使20多名HQP能够进行世界领先的太阳能电池相关研究。**

Solar energy is the most abundant, readily accessible, sustainable, and clean energy source available on the earth. The most desirable approach to harvesting solar energy is to utilize a photovoltaic (PV) device or solar cell to convert the photo energy into electrical power that is convenient to transport, distribute, and use. Polymer solar cells have been the subject of extensive research over the past years because of the increasing demand for new clean and renewable energy sources. Although the performance of OPV has been greatly improved in the past few years with power conversion efficiencies exceeding 16%, there remain several challenges, namely, rather small area, poor stability and high materials cost, to be overcome prior to the commercialization of polymer solar cells. The applicant is conducting research on the development of new polymer materials to address these issues in collaboration with Canadian industrial partners and have obtained very promising results. However, the current equipment setup for the fabrication and testing of the solar cells at the University of Waterloo exposes the devices to the ambient air at certain steps, which causes large variations and underestimations of the material and device performance. The requested fund will be used to purchase critically needed instruments together with existing tools in the applicant's lab to complete a state-of-the-art integrated in situ solar cell fabrication and measurement system at the U. Waterloo. The system will support and propel forward polymer solar cell research in the applicant and other groups at the U. Waterloo and to enable more than 20 HQP to conduct world-leading research related to solar cells. **