Canadian Photonics – Organic Photovoltaic
The global organic photovoltaics (OPV) market was worth US$74.17 mn(Million) in 2019 and the report suggests that the market will reach US$340.38 mn(Million) by 2026, registering a robust CAGR of 28.91%. according to marketwatch.com from June 17,2021. It is a globally growing market with the following benefits identified by the DOE who is sponsoring Organic photovoltaic projects in the states: Low-cost manufacturing: Soluble organic molecules enable roll-to-roll processing techniques and allow for low-cost manufacturing. The wide abundance of building-block materials may reduce supply and price constraints. The ability to be applied to flexible substrates permits a wide variety of uses.
Image (http://pvinnovation.ca/our-research/themes/) A flexible organic solar cell can give you portable power anywhere you may need it (so long as it is sunny).
According to the National Science Review, Volume 7, Issue 7, July 2020, Pages 1239 1246, https://doi.org/10.1093/nsr/nwz200 article organic photovoltaic cells with 17% efficiency have been achieved with superior processing capability. This is addressing the limitation of manufacturing large surfaces.
In “New Design Strategy Pushes Organic Photovoltaics Past 18% Efficiency”, published by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in February 2021. Research Scientist Bryon Larson, as part of an international research team, has achieved a record-breaking 18.07% power conversion efficiency from an organic photovoltaic (OPV) solar cell.
On March 7, 2021, at the Toronto headquarters of CSAGroup, the Canadian Printable Electronics Industry Association (CPEIA) and the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) convened a one-day workshop on organic photovoltaics (OPV). The workshop participants heard from 16 speakers, representing academic research groups, government research labs, OPV startups and SMEs and multinationals with established OPV-related product lines and R&D teams from across Canada. In addition, the audience included end-user companies looking to integrate OPV functionality into conventional products. In all, 30 people representing 22 organizations took part.
This shows that there is a growing Canadian OPV ecosystem that is driven by IoT energy needs and that it has a national mandate.
Canadian university research underlying photovoltaics is carried out in about 50 university laboratories located mostly in Ontario (25) and Quebec (17), and to a lesser extent in Alberta and British Columbia. The research is multidisciplinary and covers a rather broad spectrum of forefront R&D. It is mostly performed in departments of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering (21), Electrical and Computer Engineering (13), Physics (7), Materials Science, and Mechanical Engineering. According to information provided by lead university scientists, more than about 400-450 full-time equivalent researchers (professors, postdoctoral fellows, research associates, graduate students, and technologists) are presently involved in PV solar cell R&D in Canadian universities. This, according to the document that was presenting an overview of the Solar Cell R&D capability in Canada from 2013.
LINKS:
Overview of Photovoltaic Solar Cell R&D Capability in Canada ed. 4 (2009-2012) (nrcan.gc.ca)
New Design Strategy Pushes Organic Photovoltaics Past 18% Efficiency | News | NREL
Organic Photovoltaic (OPV) Cells | How Organic Solar Cells Work | Ossila
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