Heliatek Organic Photovoltaic Panels Set New Record For Efficiency

Solar panels hold much promise for creating power from the free energy that the Sun releases each day. The catch is that solar panels are very inefficient at converting solar energy into electricity. Research is constantly being conducted into making solar panels more efficient at the conversion process and a research team from Heliatek has set a new record for organic solar panel efficiency.

The new world record the company has set was or a conversion efficiency of 13.2% for an OPV multi-junction cell. That brings the conversion efficiency for that type of solar cell very close to the 16-17% efficiency of a standard conventional solar cell when used in real world conditions.

Over the last decade, the OPV multi-junciton cells that Heliatek has been working with have improved from 3% efficiency to over 13%. The company has a roadmap for getting to 15% efficient organic solar cells and the new record shows they are well on the way to achieving that goal.

The efficacy record also validates the company's unique method of creating organic panels by using vacuum deposition of small molecules on plastic film. The cell used to set the efficiency record is a multi-junction cell with three different absorbers. Each absorber is designed to convert green, red, or near-infrared light in a wavelength between 450 and 950nm into electricity.

SOURCE: Heliatek