Joint research to develop just such a "solar cell on a roll" was announced today by Advanced Research Development, Inc. (ARDI), of Athol, Mass., and the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory, near Chicago.
The three-year, $1.8 million project aims at developing a new solar energy technology that uses a film instead of layers of semiconductors to convert light into electric power.
The solar thin film will be low in cost and produced in rolls in a process similar to that used to make polarizing film materials, said Jonathan Haber of ARDI. "We hope the efficiency of converting light to electric power will be about 70 percent."
The project plans to incorporate photo-active molecules developed by Argonne into electrically conductive, stretched film developed by ARDI.
Argonne's molecules convert solar energy into electrical energy with greater than 99 percent efficiency. The molecules are based on perylene dyes, which are used in photocopying and liquid crystal displays.
"A key question will be how much efficiency we lose when the molecules are coupled to the film," said Argonne chemist Michael Wasielewski.
The ARDI-Argonne project will also develop current-carrying leads to connect the film to electrically powered devices.
The project is a cooperative research and development agreement (CRADA). CRADAs are designed to foster cooperative research between industry and government labs by offering private firms advantageous rights to patents and other intellectual property from the joint research, trade-secret-like protection of joint data, and streamlined government approval of the agreement.
Over three years, ARDI will provide $900,000, and the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Research/Technology Transfer Program will provide $900,000 through Argonne.
Advanced Research Development, Inc., is a privately owned corporation founded in 1982 by inventor Alvin M. Marks. ARDI is funded by private investment, donations and U.S. government contracts.
With more than 200 different research programs and an annual operating budget of about $475 million, Argonne is one of the nation's largest federally funded scientific laboratories. Argonne is operated by the University of Chicago as part of the U.S. Department of Energy's national laboratory system.
For more information, please contact Dave Baurac (708/252-5584 or dave_baurac@qmgate.anl.gov) at Argonne orJonathan Haber (508/249-4696) at ARDI.