The project CHEETAH - Cost-reduction through material optimisation and Higher EnErgy outpuT of solAr pHotovoltaic modules - has partners from 16 countries represented in the consortium, and the ambition of CHEETAH is to develop new concepts and technologies to foster innovative manufacturing capabilities and photovoltaic products, allowing Europe to develop its technological and industrial capacity in all parts of the value chain.
DTU Energy Conversion is work package leader for WP10 “Very low-cost OPV (Organic Photovoltaics)”, and the main focus is to address one of the biggest issues of the OPV industry, namely the costs of the cells.
“40% of the price of an OPV is the encapsulation, the barrier material shielding the materials inside the OPV from the external agents like oxygen and humidity causing the device degradation”, explains work package-leader Suren Gevorgyan, researcher at DTU Energy Conversion.
“The challenge is to find a stable material, which is able to withstand the external influences without losing its efficiency. The central research objective is to develop very low-cost encapsulation for organic solar cells and ideally to eliminate the encapsulation-layer completely, thereby lowering the costs of the entire OPV.”
DTU Energy Conversion has extended expertise in the materials and polymer science and technology; in characterization of performance and degradation; and in processing of solar cells. And all this expertise is now put into looking at all available materials and to synthesize some new ones that might do the job.
“Our strength is currently the stability, while lacking a bit on the efficiency. We are now going to use all our accumulated knowledge to find a new material that is both durable and efficient”, says Suren Gevorgyan.
CHEETAH is a combined collaborative project (CP) and coordination and support action (CSA) funded under the European Commission’s 7th Framework programme. The project is expected to be finished in 2018.