Printed Organic Photovoltaic Modules on Transferable Ultra‐thin Substrates as Additive Power Sources
Abstract
Thin-film photovoltaics with functional components on the order of a few microns, present an avenue toward realizing additive power onto any surface of interest without excessive addition in weight and topography. To date, demonstrations of such ultra-thin photovoltaics have been limited to small-scale devices, often prepared on glass carrier substrates with only a few layers solution-processed. We demonstrate large-area, ultra-thin organic photovoltaic (PV) modules produced with scalable solution-based printing processes for all layers. We further demonstrate their transfer onto light-weight and high-strength composite fabrics, resulting in durable fabric-PV systems ∼50 microns thin, weighing under 1 gram over the module area (corresponding to an area density of 105 g m-2 ), and having a specific power of 370 W kg-1 . Integration of the ultra-thin modules onto composite fabrics lends mechanical resilience to allow these fabric-PV systems to maintain their performance even after 500 roll-up cycles. This approach to decouple the manufacturing and integration of photovoltaics enables new opportunities in ubiquitous energy generation.
M.S. and J.M. contributed equally to this work. The authors acknowledge receipt of sample materials from Dupont Teijin (ST504 PET), 3M (Novec 1700, 7100), Adhesive Research (ARcare 90038), and DELO (LP 655) for use in this project. The authors thank Harvard University Center for Nanoscale Systems research staff member T. Cavanaugh for sample preparation and cross‐section SEM of devices. The device fabrication process was developed in the cleanrooms of MIT.nano, the shared experimental facility at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This work was supported by Eni S.p.A. through the MIT Energy Initiative. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship under Grant No. 1745302. Any opinion, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. M.S. also acknowledges support from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Postgraduate Scholarship. Conflict of Interest A patent application has been filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, covering the work presented in this paper ‐ U.S. Appl. No. 17/938,180. V.B. is a member of the science advisory board of Ubiquitous Energy, Inc. and Swift Solar, Inc.
