No. 31: Ongoing development of the organic solar battery (December 21, 2011)

The development of organic solar batteries is accelerating. The technology of organic solar battery is to cover the walls and curved surfaces of a building and the roof, doors, and body of a vehicle. Although a large flat space is needed to install a solar battery, an organic solar battery is free from restrictions on installation space because it is a film. Mitsubishi Chemical takes the lead in the development of organic solar battery. It organized the generation layer using an organic material that emits electrons and fullerene that is the representative material of nanotechnology. The company already achieved the generation efficiency of 10% that is the highest rate achieved by an organic solar battery so far. It plans to launch film organic solar batteries and market them to automakers and building material producers in 2012.

Because the finished product is a film, it hardly weighs besides being flexible. It is less than one millimeter thick and almost free from any restrictions on installation space. Accordingly, it is realistic to build a vehicle covered entirely with the film organic solar battery. The company is conducting market research on the product that integrates a wall material and an organic solar battery based on amorphous silicon with a view to installing it on building walls and rolling it on the iron pole of the base station of mobile phones. While amorphous silicon-based products spread, crystalline silicone will spread to be used for the large-scale photovoltaic power plant called mega solar.

SumitomoChemical is also developing organic solar batteries using not fullerene but polymer materials. Thanks to the efforts of these companies, a new business domain of photovoltaic generation is being established.