NON-CONVENTIONAL SOURCE OF

ENERGY

“PLASTIC SOLAR CELL”

Mr.Harshad.A.Devre. Mr.Vilas.V.Adke
Second year Mechanical Second year Mechanical
K.K.W.I.E.E.R. K.K.W.I.E.E.R.
E-mail:-HARSHVILAS@yahoo.com E-mail:-vilharsh@gmail.com

ABSTRACT nanotechnology and contains the first

solar cells able to harness the sun's
invisible, infrared rays.
Current solar power technology has
little chance to compete with fossil
KeyWords:
fuels or large electric grids. Today’s
solar cells are simply not efficient Plastic SolarCell, Nano Technology

enough and are currently too expensive

to manufacture for large-scale
electricity generation. However,
potential advancements in
nanotechnology may open
the door to the production of cheaper
and slightly more efficient solar cells.
Scientists have invented a plastic solar
cell that can turn the sun's power into
electrical energy, even on a cloudy day.
The plastic material uses

INTRODUCTION
Current means of energy production all
have environmental drawbacks. These
drawbacks include the damming of
rivers, the creation of nuclear waste,
and the pollution associated with fossil
fuels. The breakthrough has led
theorists to predict that plastic solar
cells could one day become five times
more efficient than current solar cell
technology. Like paint, the composite
can be sprayed onto other materials
and used as portable electricity. A
sweater coated in the material could
power a cell phone or other wireless
devices. A hydrogen powered car
painted with the film could potentially
convert enough energy into electricity
to continually recharge the car's
battery.The researchers envision that
one day "solar farms" consisting of the
plastic material could be rolled across
deserts to generate enough clean
energy to
supply the entire planet's power
needs."The sun that reaches the Earth's
surface delivers 10,000 times more
energy than we consume,"
said Ted Sargent, an electrical and
computer engineering professor at the
University of Toronto. For decades,
solar-cell researchers have tried to
develop cheaper alternatives to silicon.
The problem has been efficiency: other
materials just don’t generate enough
electricity. But Siemens’s achievement
earlier this year of the highest
efficiency to date in plastic solar cells
could change that. The Siemens design
combined two of the most important
advances in materials science in the
past 30 years: electrically conducting
polymers and buckyballs.
Solar Cells and
Nanotechnology
First, I would like to examine the
current solar cell technologies
available and then look at their
drawbacks. Then I will explore the
research field of nano solar cells, and
the science behind them.Finally, I will
consider the implications that these
technologies would have on our
society. Before introducing new solar
products which use nanotechnology, it
is necessary to explain the basic
process that a normal solar cell uses.
Conventional solar cells are called
photovoltaic cells.These cells are made
out of semiconducting material,
usually silicon. When light hits the
cells, they absorb energy though
photons. This absorbed energy knocks
out electrons in the silicon, allowing
them to flow. By adding different
impurities to the silicon such as
phosphorus or boron, an electric field
can be established. This electric field
acts as a diode, because it only allows
electrons to flow in one direction (Fig.
1). Consequently, the end result is a
current of electrons, better known to us
as electricity
.Dia.of a photovoltaic solar cell
(Fig.1)
Conventional solar cells have two main
drawbacks: they can only achieve
efficiencies around 20 percent and they
are expensive to manufacture. The first
drawback, inefficiency, is almost
unavoidable with silicon cells. This is
because the incoming photons, or light,
must have the right energy, called the
band gap energy, to knock out an
electron. If the photon has less energy
than the band gap energy then it will
pass-through. If it has more energy
than the band gap, then that extra
energy will be wasted as heat. “These
two effects alone account for the loss
of around 70 percent of the radiation
energy incident on the cell”(Fig.1)
Consequently, according to the
Lawrence Berkeley National
Laboratory, the maximum efficiency
achieved today is only around 25
percent . Mass-produced solar cells are
much less efficient than this, and
usually achieve only ten percent
efficiency. Nanotechnology might be
able to increase the efficiency of solar
cells, but the most promising
application of nanotechnology is the
reduction of manufacturing cost.
Chemists at the University of
California, Berkeley, have discovered a
way to make cheap plastic solar cells
that could be
painted on almost any surface. These
new plastic solar cells achieve
efficiencies of
only 8 percent; This technology has the
potential to do a lot better. There is a
pretty clear path for us to take to make
this perform much better”. These new
plastic solar cells utilize tiny nanorods
dispersed
Picture of a solar cell, which
utilizes nanorods to convert
light into electricity
These new plastic solar cells utilize
tiny nanorods dispersed within in a
polymer. The nanorods behave as
wires because when they absorb light
of a specific wavelength they generate
electrons. These electrons flow through
the nanorods until they reach the
aluminum electrode where they are
combined
to form a current and are used as
electricity
Fig.2 Diagram of a nano solar
cell
This type of cell is cheaper to
manufacture than conventional ones
for two main reasons. First, these
plastic cells are not made from silicon,
which can be very expensive. Second,
manufacturing of these cells does not
require
expensive equipment such as clean
rooms or vacuum chambers like
conventional silicon based solar cells.
Instead, these plastic cells can be
manufactured in a beaker. UC
Berkeley graduate student Wendy
Huynh says, “We use a much dirtier
process, and that makes it
cheap”.Another potential feature of
these solar cells is that the nanorods
could be ‘tuned’ to absorb various
wavelengths of light. This could
significantly increase the efficiency of
the solar cell because more of the
incident light could be utilized.
According to a 2001 report, “The
Social Implications of Nanoscience
and Nanotechnology,” by the National
Science Foundation, if the efficiency
of photovoltaic cells was improved by
factor of two using nanotechnology,
“The role of solar energy would grow
substantially”.In addition to the
University of California Berkeley,a
well-known company named Konarka
Technologies is also pursuing the use
of nanotechnology to improve solar
energy. In fact, they are already
manufacturing a product called,
“Power Plastic” which absorbs both
sunlight and indoor light and converts
it into electricity. For patent reasons,
their technology is kept secret, but the
basic concept is that Power Plastic is
made usingnanoscale titanium dioxide
particles coated in photovoltaic dyes,
which generate electricity when they
absorb light. According to Engineer
Magazine, Konarka has already, “built
fully functional solar cells that have
achieved efficiencies of around 8%”.
Future
designs are already underway which
includes tuning the nanorods to absorb
certain wavelengths of light in order to
exploit a greater range of the color
spectrum. Improvements such as this
could make it possible to manufacture
inexpensive solar cells with the same
efficiency as current technology. Since
the manufacturing cost of conventional
solar cells is one of the biggest
drawbacks, this new technology could
have some impressive effects on our
aily lives. Although this new
technology is only capable of
supplying low power devices with
sufficient energy, its implications on
society would still be tremendous. It
would help preserve the environment,
decrease soldiers carrying loads,
provide electricity for rural areas, and
have a wide array of commercial
applications due to its wireless
capabilities. Now I will examine each
of these implications in further detail.
Inexpensive solar cells, which would
utilize nanotechnology, would help
preserve the environment. According
to Engineer Magazine, Konarka
Technologies is already proposing,
“coating existing roofing materials
with its plastic photovoltaic cells” . If
it were inexpensive enough to cover a
home’s entire roof with solar cells,
then enough energy could be captured
to power almost theentire house. If
many houses did this then our
dependence on the electric grid (fossil
fuels) would decrease and help to
reduce pollution. Some people have
even proposed covering cars with solar
cells or making solar cell windows.
Even though their efficiency is not
very great, if solar cells were
inexpensive, then enough of them
could be used to generate sufficient
electricity. New technology in solar
cells would also have military
implications. The U.S. Army has
already hired Konarka Technologies to
help design a better way to power their
soldiers’ electrical devices. According
to Daniel McGahn, Konarka’s
executive vice president, "A regular
field soldier carries 1.5 pounds of
batteries now. A
special operations soldier has a longer
time out, has to carry 140pounds of
equipment, 60 to 70 pounds of which
are batteries." If nanotechnology could
be used to create inexpensive and
reasonably efficient solar cells, it
would greatly improve
soldiers’mobility.Inexpensive solar
cells would also help provide
electricity for rural areas or third world
countries. Since the electricity demand
in these areas is not high, and the areas
are so distantly spaced out, it is not
practical to connect them to an
electrical grid. However, this is an
ideal situation for solar energy. If it
were inexpensive enough, it could be
used for lighting, hot water, medical
devices, and even cooking . It would
greatly improve the standard of living
for millions, possibly even billions of
people! Finally, inexpensive solar cells
could also revolutionize the electronics
industry. Solar cells could be imbedded
into clothing and be ‘programmed’ to
work for both indoor light and
sunlight. Infact, Konarka Technologies
has already begun developing a
‘photovoltaic fabric’ that could be
woven into clothing .. Although solar
cells are not efficient enough to replace
large-scale electric grids, there are
many opportunities for them to be used
for low power devices. The effects that
a low cost, reasonably efficient (low
power) solar cell would have on
society are tremendous. It would help
preserve the environment, protect
soldiers, provide rural areas with
electricity, and transform the
electronics industry. These dramatic
effects, which would all be a result of
nanotechnology, would greatly change
and even improve society.
Konarka's Technology paper. Just as newsprint can include

Konarka is focused on the text, images, and a variety of colors,

development and advancement of Konarka’s photovoltaic m aterials can

nano-enabled polymer photovoltaic include a range of colors and patterns.

materials that are lightweight, flexible In addition, Konarka’s materials can be

and more versatile than traditional produced with varying degrees of

solar materials. Konarka’s technology translucency so they can be customized

represents a new breed of coatable, for use in new products and markets.

plastic, flexible photovoltaic material Konarka’s manufacturing process

that can be used in many applications enables production to scale easily and

where traditional photovoltaic cannot results in significantly reduced costs

compete. Konarka has provided that over previous generations of solar

breakthrough by developing cells. The process is

photovoltaic cells on lower cost, environmentfriendly and does not

lightweight, flexible plastic substrates expose the materials to harmful high

rather than on glass.Konarka’s temperatures. Another significant

photovoltaic technology can utilize a advantage is that it does not require the

wider range of the light spectrum than invention of a new factory to do this –

conventional solar cells, visible and instead it can use existing coating and

invisible light sources, not just printing machines and technologies.

sunlight, can be used to generate Finally, solar cells can be produced and

power. Konarka’s nanomaterials used virtually anywhere, enabling

absorb sunlight and indoor light. This production even in regions where

light supporting infrastructure is generally

energy travels through the electrically thought to be insufficient. solar power

active materials and a series of is four to ten times more costly to

electrodes and is converted into produce than electricity from

electrical energy. Konarka’s unique conventional power plants.For

photo reactive materials can be printed decades, solar-cell researchers have

or coated inexpensively onto flexible tried to develop cheaper alternatives to

substrates using roll-to-roll silicon. The problem has been

manufacturing, similar to how efficiency: other materials just don’t

newspaper is printed on large rolls of generate enough electricity. But

Siemens’s achievement earlier this
year of the highest
efficiency to date in plastic solar cells
could change that. The Siemens design
combined two of the most important
advances in materials science in the
past 30 years: electrically conducting
polymers and buckyballs. The idea of
combining these materials to capture
solar power first gained
credence in the early 1990s, when
physicists Sariciftci and Alan Heeger at
the University of California, Santa
Barbara, created primitive photovoltaic
devices by pouring a solution of
conducting plastic and buckyballs onto
a glass plate, spinning the plate to
spread the solution into a film, and
sandwiching the film between
electrodes. The conducting polymer
absorbed photons, kicking off electrons
that were then attracted by the
buckyballs and routed to an electrode.
In short, the film acted like a solar cell.
Originally, the power output was
meager (less than 1 percent of the
energy of incoming sunlight). But the
principle of the printable solar cell was
proved: you could layer a photovoltaic
material on a surface and make it work
without complex preparations.
Infrared Power
Plastic solar cells are not new. But
existing materials are only able to
harness the sun's visible light. While
half of the sun's power lies in the
visible spectrum, the other half lies in
the infrared spectrum. The new
material is the first plastic composite
that is able to harness the infrared
portion.” Everything that's warm gives
off some heat. Even people and
animals give off heat," Sargent said.
"So there actually is some power
remaining in the infrared [spectrum],
even when it appears to us to be dark
outside." The researchers combined
specially designed nano particles
called quantum dots with a polymer to
make the plastic that can detect energy
in the infrared. With further advances,
the new plastic "could allow up to 30
percent of the sun's radiant energy to
be harnessed, compared to 6 percent in
today's best plastic solar cells," said
Peter Peumans, a Stanford University
electrical engineering professor, who
studied the work.
Electrical Sweaters
He said the plastic coating could be
woven into a shirt or sweater and used
to charge an item like a cell phone."A
sweater is already absorbing all sorts
of light both in the infrared and the
visible," said Sargent. "Instead of just
turning that into heat, as it currently
does, imagine if it were to turn that
into electricity." Other possibilities
include energy-saving plastic sheeting
that could be unfurled onto a rooftop to
supply heating needs, or solar cell
window coating that could let in
enough infrared light to power home
appliances.
Cost-Effectiveness
Ultimately, a large amount of the sun's
energy could be harnessed through
"solar farms" and used to power all our
energy needs, the researchers predict.
"This could potentially displace other
sources of electrical production that
produce greenhouse gases, such as
coal," Sargent said. In Japan, the
world's largest solar-power market, the
government expects that 50 percent of
residential power supply will com
from solar power by 2030, up from a
fraction of a percent today. The biggest
hurdle facing solar power is cost
effectiveness. At a current cost of 25 to
50 cents per kilowatt-hour, solar power
is significantly more expensive than
conventional electrical power for
residences. Average U.S. residential
power prices are less than ten cents per
kilowatt-hour, according to experts.
But that could change with the new
material. Flexible, roller-processed
solar cells have the potential to turn
the sun's power into a clean, green,
convenient source of energy.
Alternative energy-solar energy cells
made of everyday plastic. In research
published today in Nature Materials
magazine, UCLA engg. professor Yang
, postdoctoral researcher Gang Li and
graduate student Vishal Shrotriya
showcase their work on an innovative
new plastic (or polymer) solar cell they
hope eventually can be produced at a
mere 10 percent to20 percent of the
current cost of traditional cells, making
the technology more widely available.
Quantum dots grown using colloidal
synthesis can be dried into thin films.
The application of the colloidal
solution containing the polymer to a
metal nano mask consisting of an array
of sub-micron holes allows near-field
detection of any quantum dots that lie
directly under a hole.While the
distribution of quantum dots in the film
is random, variation of the quantum
dot density is easily achieved by
dilution, enabling an optimum density
for the mask hole size to be found. If
two or more quantum dots lie under a
hole in the mask, they will be detected
spectroscopically. The use of a metal
nanomask for this near-field detection
enables the mask to be charged, which
in turn will apply an electric field to
the quantum dots under observation.
The

application of such an electric field

will provide a means of continuously
varying the coupling between quantum
dots, which is effectively the J-gate
operation.

Quantum dot photovoltaic

The possibility of quantum dots as dye

replacements in dye sensitized solar
cells has been theoretically suggested .
The size selective growth characteristic
of quantum dots allows absorption
tuning. Potentially PbS could span the
whole spectrum. Secondly emission at
longer wavelength is observed which
could be utilized in a second absorbing
layer.
Quantum Dot Sentized Titania Cell Operation
Solar Cell

Electron transport in the

quantum dot sensitised titania
We exploit the photovoltaic properties solar cell.
of quantum dots with plans to use them
as dye replacements in dye sensitized
A photon excites an electron in QD
cells such as those designed by
which is swept away by the in-built
Gratzel[2]. An advantage of QD`s is
electric field into the TiO2/SnO2
that they are more stable than dyes of
electrode and conducted around the
their crystalline nature. Also dyes have
circuit. At the Pt/SnO3 electrode the
low efficiency due to re-absorption
electron is transferred into the
whereas qd emission is red shifted
electrolyte which acts as an electron
away from absorption
shuttle to the QD.
Conclusion
Hence,it is known that Plastic Solar
cell has a bright future due to its
cheaper cost, flexibility,ability to
convert Infrared light and easy
manufacturing process.It could be the
primary Source of Energy for the
whole World.
References:
1. Konarka's Technology
2. Peter Fairly-Technology Review
British Columbia.
3. National Geographic News
4. Solar cell & NanoTecnology –
Report
by Mike Priaulx.
5. www.physorg.com/news7098.html
6. student- roduced report-
Nanotechnologies circa 2005spring
semester of 2005 at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison.
7.
http://tahan.com/charlie/nanosociety/c
ourse201/.
8. www.technologyreview.com
9. Quantum Computing- University Of
Queensland.