Nano-coax of C60: Molecular Cabling for Photovoltaics

University of Utah Technology Commercialization Office
posted on 03/31/2011

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New Nano-Composite Materials for Highly Efficient Organic Solar Cells

Invention Summary:

Organic solar cells are viewed as an important alternative in the search for cost effective alternative energy sources.  Current inorganic solar cells are efficient, but are very expensive to manufacture.  On the other hand organic based solar cells are significantly cheaper and easier to produce, but have been limited by their low efficiencies of converting light into electricity.  With this technology, an organic based solar cell has been developed to address the issue of poor charge transfer (efficiency). In particular, a novel organic nano-composite material has been developed to improve charge transfer and the composite can be readily generated in thin films. The material is comprised of disc-shaped macrocyclic molecules (electron donor) that self-assemble with a spherical shaped electron acceptor to yield linear coaxial wires for enhanced efficiency of photocurrent generation.

* Easy generation of thin films for large-area solar cells

Market Opportunity

There is a large demand for new, highly efficient solar cells, which are easy to manufacture and are comprised of inexpensive materials.  One approach to this problem is the design and development of novel organic based materials that are efficient at generating electricity, inexpensive, and straight forward to produce.  Specifically, a new class of organic materials has been developed and can be integrated into solar cells.  It is anticipated that these solar cells will be highly efficient photovoltaic devices capable of transferring charge efficiently and offering overall enhanced performance.

Intellectual Property

Patent application WO 2011017111 has been published for this technology

Inventor

Dr. Ling Zang, USTAR Associate Professor in the Department of Material Sciences and Engineering at the University of Utah

This technology is part of an active and ongoing research program that has been demonstrated to work in proof-of-concept experiments and includes a working prototype. It is available for developmental research support and licensing under either exclusive or non-exclusive terms.

Related Research & Publications

Dr. Zang's web page: http://www.eng.utah.edu/~lzang/index.html and http://www.organicnanowires.com/

Please see U-4647: "A New Architecture of Materials for Highly Efficient Organic Solar Cells"

Keywords: Photovoltaics, organic based solar cells, nano-composite material, linear coaxial wires