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“Solar tree”: Exploring new form factors of organic solar cells

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Listed:
  • Cao, Weiran
  • Li, Zhifeng
  • Yang, Yixing
  • Zheng, Ying
  • Yu, Weijie
  • Afzal, Rimza
  • Xue, Jiangeng

Abstract

Organic solar cells have great potential as a clean and renewable solar energy conversion system, due to their low cost materials, ease of production, and lack of harmful emissions. The rapid improvement in organic solar cell performance in recent years has triggered significant interests in developing organic solar cells for commercial applications. Harnessing the unique set of characteristics of organic solar cells, here we demonstrate a new form factor for organic solar cells, a “solar tree” or an electricity-generating artificial tree with organic solar cells as leaves. We first fabricated polymer:fullerene based organic solar cells on flexible plastic substrates that show similar performance to devices on rigid glass substrates using the inverted device structure. Large-area flexible devices were fabricated and cut into palm leaf shapes with an active device area of 6.5 cm2 using a steel rule die. 12 leaf-shaped organic solar cells were then assembled to form a prototype “solar palm tree”. Two different wiring configurations among the devices provided different power delivery modes: a low-voltage, high-current “fan mode” and a high voltage, low-current “LED mode”.

Suggested Citation

  • Cao, Weiran & Li, Zhifeng & Yang, Yixing & Zheng, Ying & Yu, Weijie & Afzal, Rimza & Xue, Jiangeng, 2014. "“Solar tree”: Exploring new form factors of organic solar cells," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 134-139.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:72:y:2014:i:c:p:134-139
    DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2014.06.045
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Jingbi You & Letian Dou & Ken Yoshimura & Takehito Kato & Kenichiro Ohya & Tom Moriarty & Keith Emery & Chun-Chao Chen & Jing Gao & Gang Li & Yang Yang, 2013. "A polymer tandem solar cell with 10.6% power conversion efficiency," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 4(1), pages 1-10, June.
    2. Stephen R. Forrest, 2004. "The path to ubiquitous and low-cost organic electronic appliances on plastic," Nature, Nature, vol. 428(6986), pages 911-918, April.
    3. Pablo Docampo & James M. Ball & Mariam Darwich & Giles E. Eperon & Henry J. Snaith, 2013. "Efficient organometal trihalide perovskite planar-heterojunction solar cells on flexible polymer substrates," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 4(1), pages 1-6, December.
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    1. Freitas, Alessandro M. & Gomes, Rodrigo A.M. & Ferreira, Rafael A.M. & Porto, Matheus P., 2019. "Experimental performance of commercial OPV panels tested outdoor," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 1004-1012.
    2. Nallapaneni Manoj Kumar & Shauhrat S. Chopra & Maria Malvoni & Rajvikram Madurai Elavarasan & Narottam Das, 2020. "Solar Cell Technology Selection for a PV Leaf Based on Energy and Sustainability Indicators—A Case of a Multilayered Solar Photovoltaic Tree," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-26, December.
    3. Lee, Byeong Ryong & Park, Gi Eun & Kim, Yong Woon & Choi, Dong Hoon & Kim, Tae Geun, 2019. "A crucial factor affecting the power conversion efficiency of oxide/metal/oxide-based organic photovoltaics: Optical cavity versus transmittance," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 235(C), pages 1505-1513.
    4. Vyas, Maharshi & Chowdhury, Sumit & Verma, Abhishek & Jain, V.K., 2022. "Solar Photovoltaic Tree: Urban PV power plants to increase power to land occupancy ratio," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 190(C), pages 283-293.

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