LC-ENERGY · Photovoltaic materials from novel self-assembling nanostructured liquid crystals
6РП — Действия „Мария Кюри“
- Период
- 2004-05-01 → 2007-04-30
- Финансиране от ЕС
- 272 502 €
- Участници
- 1
- Схема
- OIF
Линиите свързват координатора с партньорите.
Накратко на български
Течните кристали се използват за създаване на подредена наноструктура в органичните слънчеви клетки. Това помага за по-ефективното разделяне и транспортиране на електроните, което може да подобри работата на фотоволтаичните материали.
Кратко обяснение, генерирано от езиков модел по текста на CORDIS. Оригиналът е по-долу.
Резултати накратко
Final Activity Report Summary - LC-ENERGY (Photovoltaic materials from novel self-assembling nanostructured liquid crystals)
Generation of electricity from light is a complex process of multiple sequential steps: first the light should be absorbed by the material, generating a high energy electron-hole pair. This pair needs to be separated in an electron and a hole; that will move towards the electrodes of the solar cells using their own pathways. However, the mobility of the pair is very low (10 nanometres), which means that successful separation only occurs at the interface of the two different pathways. Secondly the electron and hole need to be transported to the appropriate electrodes using separate highly efficient conductive pathways that never meet another (to avoid recombination). This entire process requires a highly defined morphology of the active components in the material. In practice, however, there is no controlled nanomorphology present in organic photovoltaics. The goal of LC-ENERGY was to introduce a new concept in organic photovoltaic (solar cell) materials, particularly in their nanomorphology. To this end, we have modelled, prepared and investigated a series of different materials, based on organic dyes in a well-defined geometry. After a number of different approaches, we arrived at a series of materials that show very promising results. The photovoltaic behaviour (solar cell efficiency) of these materials are currently under investigation at the University of Cambridge (group of Prof. Richard Friend). Apart from the work on liquid crystal-based photovoltaics, other projects using liquid crystals to control the nanomorphology have been targeted too during the fellowship. They include ionic liquid crystals (the first full structure-properties relation was published by us) for template polymer growth; platinum-based liquid crystals for one-dimensional conduction and sensor applications and holographic polymer-dispersed liquid crystal devices for tuneable photonic crystals (used for switching devices in telecommunication or for example for tuneable lenses), where we obtained a world record switching speed with reduced power consumption!
Текст от CORDIS, на английски · Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз
Цел на проекта
This proposal aims to improve the current generation of organic photovoltaic materials by controlling the molecular morphology, a key parameter in the development of organic solar cells. Self-organisation is activated by a newly discovered nanophase segregation process between rod- and disc-shaped molecules. Moreover, the overall liquid crystalline properties of the system allow macroscopic alignment, giving rise to an optimised geometry at all length scales.The proposed project covers the entire chain of knowledge: the design and preparation of the nanophase segregating materials, a detailed investigation of the electro-optical properties, and the analysis of the photovoltaic behaviour. This approach is an attractive method for studying functional materials and allows a direct link from fundamental research to technology-based industries.Apart from developing new concepts in light harvesting and sustainable energies, the proposal envisages advances in the field of nanosciences, particularly in the control of self-organisation and nanostructure formation. Basic understanding of the parameters for self-organisation will be generated, which contributes to the process of conceptualisation, required to support future technological breakthroughs in the field of nanosciences.In the proposal, a close collaboration between the scientist from top-level institutes like MIT, Boston and the University of Nijmegen is realised. The institutes provide a state-of-the-art training opportunity for the applicant. Knowledge and experience built-up during the project can easily disseminate into national and European projects concerning photovoltaic technologies.
Оригинален текст от CORDIS (на английски).
Участници
- STICHTING KATHOLIEKE UNIVERSITEIT · NIJMEGENКоординаторНидерландия
Връзки
Данни: CORDIS, © Европейски съюз