Thesis (M. Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 46-47). / Photovoltaic cells based on organic semiconducting materials have the potential to compete with the more mature crystalline and thin film based photovoltaic technologies in the future primarily due to the expectation of significantly reduced manufacturing costs. Stabilized power conversion efficiencies of organic photovoltaics are still well below those of crystalline Si photovoltaics, however a continuous, high throughput, roll-to-roll manufacturing process involving low temperature deposition or printing techniques is expected to partially account for their reduced efficiency and boost their commercial attractiveness. In addition, organic photovoltaics are flexible, light weight, and not fragile which makes them particularly suitable for transportation and portable electronics applications. Four organic photovoltaic technologies as well as the advantages and setbacks of each are described including Graetzel (wet) cells, blended photovoltaics, asymmetric tandem cells with hybrid planar-mixed molecular heterojunctions, and external antenna photovoltaics. A variety of start-up companies in various stages of commercialization of these technologies as well as the intellectual property related to these technologies is also discussed. / (cont.) A simplified cost model is presented to quantitatively estimate the possible cost reductions that continuous roll-to-roll production could entail for three different scenarios. Finally, a discussion of potential business strategies for licensing and commercializing organic photovoltaics is presented. / by Jonathan Barr. / M.Eng.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:MIT/oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/33621 |
| Date | January 2005 |
| Creators | Barr, Jonathan (Jonathan Allan) |
| Contributors | Marc A. Baldo., Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering., Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering. |
| Publisher | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| Source Sets | M.I.T. Theses and Dissertation |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 49 leaves, 2581086 bytes, 2583036 bytes, application/pdf, application/pdf, application/pdf |
| Rights | M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission., http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582 |
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