Heliatek: Organic Solar Cells Reach 6 Percent Confirmed Efficiency

Heliatek GmbH (Dresden/Ulm) developed organic solar cells consisting of so called “small molecules” – organic dyes which are synthesized from hydrocarbons. Those solar cells are characterized by low cost, short energy payback time and inexhaustible availability of raw materials.

In excess of low expenses, the customer’s benefits are highly flexible and light-weight modules (0.5 kg/m²), since the future product is going to be manufactured on foil substrates in a continuous vacuum coating process.

Recently, Fraunhofer ISE certified a power conversion efficiency of 6.07 % for a tandem solar cell using Heliatek’s proprietary tandem cell technology. The cell with an active area of 2 cm² already possesses many of the essential characteristics of a large solar module. It was developed by Heliatek in cooperation with the Institute of Applied Photo Physics (IAPP) of the Technical University of Dresden based on results of the projects “Innoprofile” and “OPEG,” both sponsored by BMBF.

The result represents an important milestone on Heliatek’s way to production of organic solar cells. In medium-term, it is planned to increase the conversation efficiency to 10%.

As a next step on the way to mass production, Heliatek will cooperate with Fraunhofer IPMS in Dresden, having many years of experience with technological issues of organic electronics. Their Center for Organic Materials and Electronic Devices Dresden (COMEDD) is the leading center for production technologies of OLEDs, devices which are very similar to Heliatek’s solar technology as far as production is concerned. To consolidate forces, the company founded in 2006 runs several joint research projects with the Fraunhofer IPMS.

Heliatek and Fraunhofer IPMS will present their research results for the first time at PVSEC 2009 (Hall B6, Stand 58). Dr. Christian May from Fraunhofer IPMS will answer questions on Sept. 21, 2009, 3.30 p.m. at CCH – Congress Center Hamburg (Room B 2.2) during his press conference.