New Block Copolymer Solar Cells Shows Promising Results

A small team of researchers at the Rice and Pennsylvania State universities has developed a new solar cell that is based on organic block copolymers. The research and the new solar cell have led to the possibility of an entirely new class of solar panels.

The organic block copolymers are compounds that self-arrange into certain layers that are effective at absorbing sunlight, and are significantly better at doing so than other substances that uses polymer as their main ingredient.

Depending on which solar panel type (mono-, polycrystalline or thin-film), the best solar panels usually range between 15-20%. Individual solar cell efficiencies are usually a bit higher than this. Researchers have actually pushed cell-efficiencies up to 43.5%.

The research team at the Rice and Pennsylvania State universities has so far not achieved an efficiency rating higher than 3%, but the exciting part is that the organic block copolymers are cheap, which in the long run could mean a new type of solar panel that can compete on the market.

The new solar cell consists of a block copolymer that arranges itself into bands with a thickness of about 16 nanometers. A layer of aluminum is put on the other side. Electrodes at the top and bottom enable current to flow through the device.

“On paper, block copolymers are excellent candidates for organic solar cells, but no one has been able to get very good photovoltaic performance using block copolymers. We didn’t give up on the idea of block copolymers because there’s really only been a handful of these types of solar cells previously tested. We thought getting good performance using block copolymers was possible if we designed the right materials and fabricated the solar cells under the right conditions.” Says project leader and Rice chemical engineer Rafael Verduzco.

Researchers were already experimenting with using polymer components for solar cells back in the 1980s, but so far we have yet to see any breakthroughs come out of the research. It will be interesting to follow the research of block copolymer solar cells in the coming months and years. If you take a look at acomparison of solar panel efficiencies in 2013, a cell efficiency of 3% is far from exciting news. On the other hand,  a cell based on an organic polymer would be significantly cheaper than one that is silicon-based. Maybe they`re actually onto something?

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Solarni kolektor: Green Deal Provider, Enact, goes bust

Solarni kolektor: Green Deal Provider, Enact, goes bust: The Green Deal has suffered its first major business casualty, just four month’s after the Government’s flagship energy efficiency scheme...

Green Deal Provider, Enact, goes bust

The Green Deal has suffered its first major business casualty, just four month’s after the Government’s flagship energy efficiency scheme launched.

Cornwall-based Green Deal Provider Enact Energy Renewables has gone into administration, with 29 job losses.

Ian Walker and Christopher Norman from the Exeter office of Begbies Traynor were appointed joint administrators of Enact on May 30. They said in a statement: "29 members of the company's staff were made redundant […] on account of the company’s insolvency" and the joint admininstrators will now seek to find "a purchaser for some or all of the company’s business undertaking and assets."

"Well regarded"

It is still unclear what caused Enact to enter into administration, but the company, which was established in 1996 to provide renewable energy and energy saving upgrades to households, is described by one leading industry figure as "well regarded". It was the first company in Cornwall to be accredited as a Green Deal Provider and company management met with Ed Davey, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, as recently as April to discuss the Green Deal. 

A Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) spokesperson told GreenWiseofficials were still trying to establish the facts before commenting. However, the news is bound to be a blow for the Government, which launched the Green Deal in order to insulate 14 million homes by 2020. Enact’s fate will be of particular embarassment to the Prime Minister David Cameron, whose new energy advisor, George Eustice, is MP for Cornwall. 

Last week, it emerged that the number of cavity wall insulations has collapsed since the launch of the Green Deal. And despite nearly 9,000 Green Deal assessments being lodged by the end of April, unofficial reports suggest the scheme is struggling to convert assessments into Green Deal Plans, the financial arrangements homeowners enter into with Green Deal Providers to pay for energy saving upgrades to their properties. 

As a Green Deal Provider, Enact was able to offer access to Green Deal funding and finance options to homeowners. According to the companies’ website, before becoming a Green Deal Provider, Enact had undertaken over 300,000 energy efficiency upgrades across the UK by installing solar, loft and cavity wall insulations and heating upgrades.

"This well regarded company is just the latest casualty in an alarmingly long line of those who took at face value the commitment to ensure a seamless transition between the various energy saving programmes abandoned at the end of 2012 - Warm Front, CERT, CESP - and the brave new world of the ECO and Green Deal. One in four of those who were employed last December in installing insulation have now lost their jobs," said Andrew Warren, director of the Association for the Conservation of Energy. 

 
Additional measures

John Alker, director of policy and communications at the UK Green Building Council, said it was too early to draw wider conclusions for the Green Deal from this one case, but the Government should be taking additional action to support the Green Deal market. 

"It’s a great shame when any company goes into administration, especially one providingenergy efficiency and renewables services for over a decade. But I don’t think we can extrapolate too much from just one example, and say there are lessons for the Green Deal more widely – particularly when we don’t have any further information," he said. "Needless to say, everyone would like there to be a much more certain market for Green Deal Providers – which is why we have been campaigning so strongly for additional financial incentives for consumers to take it up."