Report: OLEDs hold key for organic PV to win solar race

The roll-to-roll manufacturing used by organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) is the key for organic photovoltaics (OPV) to undercut the cost of traditional PV production, according to a report published today by Glen Allen, Va.-based research firm NanoMarkets.

The Organic Photovoltaic Materials Markets: 2009-2016 report said that the OPV material market is small, but that OPV material makers will soon see an increase in orders and may be able to beat the prices of traditional crystalline silicon PVs.

The report predicted that OPV and hybrid OPV sales will reach almost $600 million by 2016.

OPVs and hybrid OPVs hold the promise of lower material and manufacturing costs than traditional solar cells, which rely on expensive crystalline silicon technology.

OPV cells are made from organic molecules, while hybrid OPVs contain a combination of organic and inorganic materials. Hybrid OPVs also contain dye-sensitized solar cells (DSC) which have a coating of photosensitive dye that concentrates solar energy. OPVs and DSCs can be manufactured on inexpensive thin-film structures. They can also produce efficient electricity in low level light, unlike crystalline silicon cells.

NanoMarkets’ report said that the manufacturing of OPV cells is similar to OLED manufacturing. Material makers can combine production equipment for OPV and large scale OLED manufacturing in a roll-to-roll process, lowering manufacturing costs and boosting high-speed production.

Because standards are yet to be set, OPV makers have the potential to set the bar in three areas of materials: organic energy absorbers, improved electricity conductors, and OPV layers with greater energy conversion.

OPV research and production has already begun. Researchers at Swansea University’s have developed a DSC manufacturing process that could build layers of a solar cell at a rate of 30 to 40 square meters per minute (see UK researchers simplify low-light solar with paint-on PV).

Lowell, Mass.-based solar company Konarka Technologies began leading a three-year OPV consortium of five universities in December 2008 with €2.5 million ($3.2 million) in funding from the German government (see German government invests €2.5M in OPV research).

And Niskayuna, N.Y.-based GE Global Research has developed roll-to-roll OLEDs. The process has the potential for roll-to-roll manufacturing with OPVs, such as the kind Pittsburgh, Penn.-based solar company Plextronics makes (see GE shows how to roll out OLEDs).

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