SBIR-STTR Award

Solar technologies have had little impact on energy generation due to the high price of solar electricity generated by current technology relative to the cost of electricity generated from fossil fuels. The DOE Sunshot aims at reducing the installed cost of solar energy systems by about 75% and predicts that this will drive widespread, large-scale adoption of this renewable energy technology and restore U.S. leadership in the global clean energy race. Next Energy Technologies (NEXTs) soluble small molecule (SSM) organic photovoltaic (OPV) promises to lower the cost per watt of modules and also the balance of system costs below the goals of Sunshot. NEXTs SSM-OPVs can be coated as inks onto conventional plastic rolls in high yields using roll-to-roll technology allowing for the generation of lightweight, flexible, and extremely inexpensive solar cells. This project focuses on enhancing inherent device stability in order to increase product lifetime and reduce the cost of vapor barrier and packaging materials required for modules. The technical approach encompasses the development of solution processable metal oxide contact layers to eliminate the need for low work function metallic electrodes. Successful completion of the project will yield performance equivalent to conventionally processed devices and demonstrate significant improvement to device lifetime. NEXTs scale-up to commercial and utility markets will be enabled by a near-term commercialization strategy that targets high-value niche markets that exploit the lightweight and flexible characteristics of our OPV product such as portable, flexible solar for military and consumer applications. Early revenues from these niche markets will allow NEXT to efficiently scale our low-cost OPV product towards the much larger commercial and utility markets where PV sales are driven by cost. We are particularly well suited to important market segments not currently well served by current generations of PV, for example, large open-span rooftops that cant support traditional PV.

The DOE Sunshot initiative aims at reducing the installed cost of solar energy systems by about 75% and predicts that this will drive widespread, large-scale adoption of this renewable energy technology and restore U.S. leadership in the global clean energy race. Conventional solar technologies are also limited in their form factor, weight, flexibility, color- tunability, and transparency, which have impeded growth in flexible PV and large building integrated PV markets. Soluble small molecule organic photovoltaic technology promises to lower the cost per watt of modules and also the balance of system costs below the goals of Sunshot. These materials can be coated as inks onto conventional plastic rolls in high yields using roll-to-roll technology allowing for the generation of lightweight, flexible, semi-transparent, color-tunable and extremely inexpensive solar cells. The goal of this project is to demonstrate that the lifetime of encapsulated organic PVs made using organic soluble small molecules are long enough to meet the needs of the markets. The Phase I projected demonstrated the commercial feasibility and stability of soluble small molecule organic solar technology. In an inert environment that simulates well-encapsulated devices, these devices showed performance that potentially meets the requirements for early-stage products (5 or more year effective lifetime), and demonstrated that 20-30 year lifetimes needed for building integrated photovoltaic are feasible. The goal of the Phase II proposal is to demonstrate that the lifetime of encapsulated organic PVs made using soluble small molecules are long enough to meet the needs of the markets. Specifically, for rigid encapsulation Phase II will demonstrate 20 - 30 year of lifetimes, which are necessary for the building integrated PV (BIPV) window market. For flexible encapsulation technology Phase II milestones include 3 - 5 year lifetimes, which will enable the technology in niche flexible portable markets - a stepping stone towards the flexible BIPV market. Commercial Applications and

Benefits:
The development of the technology is anticipated to achieve a price point that will compete with non-renewables and help the US transition to a clean energy future. On the shorter term, the flexibility, low-weight, color-tunability, and semitransparency of the technology will fulfill unmet needs of flexible and building integrated PV (BIPV) markets. The low costs and custom manufacturing enabled by the printable technology for the BIPV markets supports domestic manufacturing by reducing the advantage of mass manufacturing and low margins.