Heraeus Clevios PEDOT:PSS Technology Integrated into Printed Organic Solar Cells

Fully roll-to-roll printable organic photovoltaic energy cells (OPV’s) have been produced by the Technical University of Denmark, Department of Energy Conservation and Storage (DTU) using printed Clevios PEDOT:PSS from Heraeus Conductive Polymers Division rather than traditional vacuum processed indium tin oxide (ITO).

Clevios PEDOT:PSS is a highly conductive polymer dispersion that allows the deposition of transparent, thin conductive films with sheet resistances of less than 100 ohm/sq. DTU was able to show that the use of Clevios PEDOT:PSS as an electrode in the layer stack contributes to the thin, lightweight and flexible properties of the OPV device. Also the Clevios material contributes to the low cost of this roll-to-roll produced energy device.

“Flexible Clevios PEDOT:PSS allows additional options, including low cost printing, in the production of OPV devices,” Dr. Wilfied Lövenich of Heraeus said.

“The ability to provide flexible roll-to-roll printed energy devices so simply is a major step towards the generation of mass produced organic photovoltaic cells,” Prof. Krebs of DTU said.

The work was partially supported by a European project ROTROT, (ROll-To-Roll production of Organic Tandem cells, FP7 ICT 2011).