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Professor Yang Yang (third from right) and his research team for transparent polymer solar cells.
Organic solar cells are solar cells whose components are wholly or partially organic. Compared with traditional inorganic solar cells, organic solar cells have the characteristics of light weight, low cost, controllable material design, and large area flexible preparation. They have a broader prospect of commercial application and have been favored by solar energy researchers. However, due to the current organic solar cells in the energy conversion efficiency and stability, there are still some major shortcomings, affecting the organic solar cell product production and commercial application value. On the technical development and commercial prospects of organic solar cells, the reporter from Science and Technology Daily interviewed Professor of Material Science and Engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles and Dr. Yang Yang, Director of the Nano Renewable Energy Center at the California Nanosystems Institute.
Professor Yang’s main research area is solar energy and high-efficiency electronic devices. He has published more than 240 world-leading research papers so far and has more than 50 patents in related fields. As of July 2012, Prof. Yang’s dissertation has reached an H factor of 74.
"Because of the advantages and characteristics of organic solar cells, it is gaining more and more extensive attention." Professor Yang said, "At present, the efficiency of the cascade-structured polymer solar cells developed by our research team has reached as high as 10.6%. This result has been certified by the National Renewable Energy Center of the United States, which proves that polymer solar cells have good prospects as low-cost and high-efficiency photoelectric conversion devices."
Prof. Yang is responsible for the California Nanosystems Institute Nano Renewable Energy Center was established in 2007, the main research direction for the nano-related fields of solar cells, three-dimensional batteries, bio-energy and hydrogen storage technology. The realization of polymer solar cells that can be used in building windows is one of the main research objectives of the center. Prof. Yang’s major contributions to organic solar energy include studying the effect of polymer morphology on the results of its devices, the invention of organic inversion cells and cascaded inversion cells, and the application of photovoltaic polarizers in liquid crystal displays. He has created several high-efficiency world records in the field of organic solar cells.
"In addition to pursuing the high conversion rate of the device, we also pay attention to other more extensive research fields and unique application values ​​of polymer solar cells, such as photovoltaic devices that are transparent to visible light," said Professor Yang. In the past few years, his research team has made many attempts to produce visible light transparent or translucent polymer solar cells. For example, a transparent conductor such as a metal thin film, a metal mesh, a metal nanowire network, a metal oxide, a conductive polymer, and a graphene is deposited as a top electrode on a photoactive layer, and a visible light transparent or translucent polymer has been developed. Solar battery. However, because no suitable polymer photovoltaic materials and effective transparent conductors were found, these attempts ended in failure.
“Recently, our research team successfully prepared a transparent polymer solar cell by introducing a near-infrared sensitive polymer and using a silver nanowire composite film as the top transparent electrode. The energy conversion efficiency has reached 4%. Research results have been published in the American Chemical Society. "Nano" magazine."
Professor Yang pointed out that near-infrared photopolymers can absorb more near-infrared light, but are less sensitive to visible light, thus taking into account the performance and transparency of solar cells in the near infrared wavelength region. Moreover, transparent electrodes made of a mixture of silver nanowires and titania nanoparticles replace the previously used opaque metal electrodes, making it possible to use transparent organic solar cells. "It is our goal to achieve a polymer solar cell that can be used for building windows."
After graduating from the University of Massachusetts in 1992 with a Ph.D. in physics and applied physics, Yang Yang entered the famous polymer material innovation company, UNAX Santa Barbara, to study polymer materials. In 1997, Yang Yang began teaching at the University of California, Los Angeles. , engaged in teaching and research work related to organic solar cells, is currently a teacher of more than 20 graduate students.
Prof Yang said jokingly: “My parents gave me the name 'Yang', so I was destined to engage in solar-related work.†He believes that as a major source of clean energy, research on solar cells has very broad application prospects. Human survival and sustainable development are of great significance.
“China is a big producer of solar cells and hopes to strengthen cooperation with its Chinese counterparts and accelerate the pace of development and application of organic solar cells.†Professor Yang said, “Polymer solar cells that can be used in building windows have only 4 conversion efficiencies. %, but within 3 to 5 years, it can reach more than 10%. At that time, this kind of solar battery that can be painted on the surface of the building as easily as paint will definitely have a great market prospect."
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