SEES Fellows: Sustainable organic solar power from printed building-integrated panels

University Of Washington, Seattle WA

Investigators

Abstract

This interdisciplinary project will explore the technological, environmental, and socioeconomic barriers to adopting sustainably printed organic photovoltaic (OPV) modules for building-integrated solar power production by considering the overall life cycle of the product. Research efforts will focus on: 1) validating a new strategy for recouping photocurrent losses in high photovoltage devices, 2) providing a cradle-to-grave assessment of printed OPV modules as building-integrated roofing shingles, 3) developing a general route to achieving state-of-the-art efficiencies from halogen-free solvents, and 4) developing a comprehensive picture of the charge generation/recombination mechanism for a novel homologous series of fullerene-free organic acceptors. While solar power technically has the greatest potential of any sustainable resource, it is currently used to supply only about one-tenth of one percent of worldwide energy demand. The ability to implement any potentially disruptive technology for solar power generation is constrained from below by the performance, manufacturability, and competing uses/economics of available materials, and constrained from above by decision making frameworks (public/fiscal policy, individual finance) related to, among other things, the product?s cradle-to-grave life cycle. This project will explore the sustainability of solar power devices capable of being fabricated from novel organic dyes and polymers (organic photovoltaics or OPVs) that require low energy inputs and low capital investment. Because OPVs can be relatively lightweight and can be arbitrarily molded to flexible or curved substrates, they have potential for being integrated into building components such as roofing shingles, thus bringing down costs. This research will assess the technological, environmental, and socioeconomic feasibility of such applications. This project will also engage and mentor high school students in hands-on learning activities that demonstrate the basic solar energy concepts of absorbing light and converting it to electricity, will share research results with a broad public audience, and will establish university-industry partnerships in the area of solar energy development. This project is supported under the NSF Science, Engineering and Education for Sustainability Fellows (SEES Fellows) program, with the goal of helping to enable discoveries needed to inform actions that lead to environmental, energy and societal sustainability while creating the necessary workforce to address these challenges. With SEES Fellows support, this project will enable a promising early career researcher to establish themselves in an independent research career related to sustainability.