From PESWiki

Dr. Jiwen Liu, a researcher in the Wake Forest University Center for Nanotechnology and Molecular Materials, tests a new plastic solar cell in the center's laboratory in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. [1] (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070419140902.htm)

Technologies that use plastic in the process of harnessing solar energy, either as the solar cell itself or as a crucial infrastructure component.

Plastic Cell Technologies

Konarka

• Konarka Announces First-Ever Demonstration of Inkjet Printed Solar Cells (http://www.konarkatech.com/news_and_events/press_releases/2008/3_march/0304_ink.php) - Konarka Technologies, Inc., an innovator in development and commercialization of Power Plastic®, a material that converts light to energy, announced the company successfully conducted the first-ever demonstration of manufacturing solar cells by highly efficient inkjet printing. (Konarka, Mar. 4, 2008)
  

• Solar Nanotech Coming of Age (http://www.emagazine.com/view/?2689) - Leading "solar nanotechnology" companies like Nanosys, Nanosolar, and Konarka have created prototypes of thin rolls of highly efficient light-collecting plastics for spreading across rooftops or embedding in building materials -- at a price comparable to conventional energy sources. Roll-out could take up to five years. (EMagazine; July 19, 2005)

• Konarka and Solaris Nanosciences Create Joint Research Program (http://pesn.com/2005/06/12/9600110_Konarka_and_Solaris_Nanosciences_Merge/) - Solaris' nanoscale metalic structures could boost the solar energy conversion efficiency of Konarka's portable power plastics. (PESN; June 12, 2005)
  

• Partnership Pursues Full Spectrum Polymer Solar (http://www.renewableenergyaccess.com/rea/news/story?id=24268) - Konarka, specializing in their polymer-based thin film solar approach, has agreed to work collaboratively with Evident Technologies, a company that specializes in "quantum dot" development and applications. The research aims to increase the sensitivity of Konarka's plastic cells to a wider range of the light spectrum. (Renewable Energy Access; March 29, 2005)

• Konarka Acquires Siemens' Organic Photovoltaics (http://www.energyinfosource.com/aoi/news-details.cfm?id=22464&FLink=&tf=6) - New generation of photovoltaics are inexpensive, easy-to-manufacture and versatile. These new plastic power cells will make it possible for any electronic device or structure to carry its own on-board source of renewable energy. (Energy Info Source, Sept. 7, 2004)

Other Companies/Innovations

• Toward the next generation of high-efficiency plastic solar cells (http://www.physorg.com/news124982617.html) - Researchers in the United States and Austria, including Nobel Prize winner, Alan J. Heeger, report an advance toward the next generation of plastic solar cells, which are widely heralded as a low cost, environmentally-friendly alternative to inorganic solar cells for meeting rising energy demands. (PhysOrg; Mar. 17, 2008)
  

• Inexpensive, Easy To Produce Solar Panels (http://thefraserdomain.typepad.com/energy/2007/07/njit-researcher.html) - Researchers at NJIT have developed (http://www.njit.edu/publicinfo/press_releases/release_1040.php) an inexpensive solar cell that can be painted or printed on flexible plastic sheets. Someday homeowners may be able to print sheets of them with inexpensive home-based inkjet printers. Consumers could then slap the finished product on a wall, roof or billboard to create their own power stations. (The Energy Blog; Jul. 19, 2007)

• Record Efficiency for Plastic Solar Cells (http://www.technologyreview.com/Energy/19044/) - Researchers at UCSB along with counterparts in South Korea have discovered a new way to make cheap and flexible photovoltaic cells that involves a process for printing plastic solar cells. They have achieved an efficiency of 6.5 percent--a new record plastic PVs. (MIT Technology Review; July 13, 2007)
  

• New Plastic Solar Cell Breaks Efficiency Record (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070419140902.htm) - Researchers at Wake Forest University's Center for Nanotechnology and Molecular Materials have announced that they have pushed the efficiency of plastic solar cells to more than 6 percent by creating "nano-filaments" within light absorbing plastic, similar to the veins in tree leaves. (Science Daily; Apr. 19, 2007)
  

• Directory:Paintable plastic solar cells using quantum dots - Paintable plastic solar cells that can harness the sun's invisible, infrared rays, and could deliver up to five times the power of the most advanced photovoltaic cells today. Combines specially-designed minute particles called quantum dots, three to four nanometers across, with a polymer to make a plastic that can detect energy in the infrared.

• Solar Cell Teams Plastic and Carbon (http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/04/12/rnb_121404.asp?trk=nl) - A plastic semiconductor plus a layer of carbon buckyballs makes for an inexpensive solar cell. (MIT Technology Review; Dec. 14, 2004)

• Ultra Cheap Solar Development by STMicroelectronics (http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/biztech/10/02/solar.cells.reut/index.html) - European chip maker is working on solar cell process that uses plastic substrate instead of silicon. "Over a typical 20-year life span of a solar cell, a single produced watt should cost as little as $0.20, compared with the current $4, competing even with fossil fuel cost of $0.40. (CNN; Oct. 2, 2003)

Plastic Used

• XsunX Developing Solar Film for Buildings' Windows (http://pesn.com/2005/06/09/9600106_Transparent_Solar_Cell/) - See-through thin film plastic Power Glass™ integrates solar collection capabilities in a cost-comparable substrate to existing film products, taking energy gain into consideration. (PESN; June 9, 2005)

• Plastics Change Shape and Emit Energy (http://www.jobwerx.com/news/Archives/plastics_biz-id=947121_510.html) - The shape changers are a new family of photosensitive plastics materials that have shape-memory by having light shined on them or by heat exposure. Plastic materials can return to their original form when hit with a blast of ultraviolet light. (Jobwerx; April 14, 2005) [Konarka among those looking at this technology.]

See also

• Directory:Thin Film Solar (separate index at PESWiki) - Thin layer metal alloy converts light into energy at a fraction of the cost of silicon. Roll-printed cells are lightweight and flexible. They can be integrated into consumer products like cell phones, tents and roof tiles.

GENERAL:
- Directory:Solar - index of resources
- PowerPedia:Solar Energy - Encyclopedic review of history and future
- Videos:Solar MODALITIES:
- Directory:Concentrated Solar Power
- Directory:Solar:PhotoVoltaics | Directory:Home Generation:Solar PV
- Directory:Home Generation:Solar Heating
- Directory:Thin Film Solar
- Directory:Solar:Photosynthesis Imitation
- Directory:Solar Tower
- Directory:Floating Solar Chimney
- Directory:Space Based Solar Power
- Directory:Solar Sails
INFRASTRUCTURE
- Directory:Plastic Solar Cells
- Directory:Silicon - more efficient uses, alternatives, methods
- Directory:Black Silicon
- Directory:Synchronous Solar Heliostat
- Directory:Solar:Installation and Consultation
- Directory:Solar:Largest
APPLICATIONS:
- Directory:Solar:Chargers
- Directory:Solar:Vehicles
- Directory:Solar Hydrogen
- OS:Solar Ethanol - distiller design
- Directory:Solar Pavement - black-body absorption of the asphalt