Pourable Photovoltaic Polymer/Liquid Crystal Devices Jared P. Coyle and Adam K. Fontecchio, Ph.D Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering Drexel University 2008 Lab-to-Market Forum Nanotechnology Commercialization Group 1

The Problem: Current silicon PV technology has many limitations Costly high $/MW materials, manufacture, shipping Only sensitive to some wavelengths of light Environmentally harmful to manufacture Must be a flat panel Unattractive appearance Drexel Nanophotonics Laboratory jpc652@drexel.edu 2

Addressing the Problem Reduced cost Self-assembly Cheaper materials Optically Clear Flexible & moldable into any shape Sensitive to entire spectrum of sunlight Drexel Nanophotonics Laboratory jpc652@drexel.edu 3

Polymer Dispersed Liquid Crystal (PDLC) Flexible Self-Assembles 3 hours of sunlight or 5 minutes in an oven 95% Water, less than 1% LC Low Material Cost Efficiency: ~8% 10 µm Just say that the raw materials are about 1/50th the cost of the materials needed for a traditional silicon-based PV. Drexel Nanophotonics Laboratory jpc652@drexel.edu 4

Holographically-formed PDLC Same material set as PDLC Thin Film Structure (20 microns) Flexible Transparent Efficiency: ~15% Say that this alignment of nanoparticles is created with a laser Drexel Nanophotonics Laboratory jpc652@drexel.edu 5

PDLC+ Entire system self-assembles May be any shape Multifunctional (paint, roofing, siding, etc.) Projected Efficiency: ~8% Drexel Nanophotonics Laboratory jpc652@drexel.edu 6

Stacking PDLC, H-PDLC, and PDLC+ are all stackable 11 layers of thin films Absorb all transmitted light Stacked H-PDLC: Forces internal reflection Projected efficiency: 35-55% Stacks of mixed devices are possible PDLC on H-PDLC H-PDLC on PDLC+ Drexel Nanophotonics Laboratory jpc652@drexel.edu 7

Photovoltaics Market 62% increase in PV output from 2006 to 2007 ~$10B raised in 2007 over 100 newco’s Increased government incentives Drexel Nanophotonics Laboratory jpc652@drexel.edu 8

PDLC Markets H-PDLC PDLC+ Similar to traditional PVs Increased efficiency with stacking PDLC+ Integrated into paint, siding, etc. Share costs Drexel Nanophotonics Laboratory jpc652@drexel.edu 9

Competition 1st and 2nd generation solar cells crystalline silicon & thin films 3rd generation solar cells dye-sensitized titania solar cells tandem cells materials that generate multiple electron-hole pairs organic photovoltaics Drexel Nanophotonics Laboratory jpc652@drexel.edu 10

Intellectual Property Provisional application (priority date 27-Oct-08) Unique polymer composition Method of dispersing nanoparticles in polymer matrix Multifunctional PV Actively creating new IP with additional research Drexel Nanophotonics Laboratory jpc652@drexel.edu 11