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Recyclable Organic Solar Cells on Cellulose Nanocrystal Substrates

Overview
Journal Sci Rep
Specialty Science
Date 2013 Mar 26
PMID 23524333
Citations 36
Authors
Yinhua Zhou
Canek Fuentes-Hernandez
Talha M Khan
Jen-Chieh Liu
James Hsu
Jae Won Shim
Amir Dindar
Jeffrey P Youngblood
Robert J Moon
Bernard Kippelen
Affiliations
Soon will be listed here.
Abstract

Solar energy is potentially the largest source of renewable energy at our disposal, but significant advances are required to make photovoltaic technologies economically viable and, from a life-cycle perspective, environmentally friendly, and consequently scalable. Cellulose nanomaterials are emerging high-value nanoparticles extracted from plants that are abundant, renewable, and sustainable. Here, we report on the first demonstration of efficient polymer solar cells fabricated on optically transparent cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) substrates. The solar cells fabricated on the CNC substrates display good rectification in the dark and reach a power conversion efficiency of 2.7%. In addition, we demonstrate that these solar cells can be easily separated and recycled into their major components using low-energy processes at room temperature, opening the door for a truly recyclable solar cell technology. Efficient and easily recyclable organic solar cells on CNC substrates are expected to be an attractive technology for sustainable, scalable, and environmentally-friendly energy production.

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