THE PHOTOVOLTAIC GREENHOUSE

                     

We have demonstrated the feasibility of the fabrication of a photovoltaic greenhouse roof by using techniques based on solution processing (spray coating and screen printing). The panel ensures the suitable transmittance for plants and is composed of modules connected in series and parallel.

The work was funded by ECOFLECS Project (partners: Aero Sekur SpA, Uni Roma Tor Vergata, UniTuscia, CNR-IBAF).

A COATING FOR ALL

Fully sprayed polymer solar cell modules open the way to bring Photovoltaics nominally everywhere, thanks to spray coating conformability to virtually any kind of substrate. If we also add semitransparency, then the range of possible applications gets even broader, from Building-Integrated Photovoltaics to automotive or consumer electronics.

We have set up an automated spray process, completely performed in air, for the fabrication of the first fully spray-coated modules on glass substrates. We have obtained conversion efficiency close to 1% and now the transfer on plastic substrate is in progress, together with the improvement of the efficiency on large area.

Full story available on Energy Technology, in press paper.

Supporting Information: Full Spray and flexible PSC Modules on Action!

SOLID STATE DYE SOLAR CELL MODULES

We fabricated the first solid state dye solar cell (SDSC) module using poly(3-hexilthiophene) (P3HT) as Hole Transport Material for the dye regeneration process. Integrated interconnections were obtained following the "Monolithic" architecture for series connections. The fabricated SDSC module has a conversion efficiency of 2.0% on active area. These results represent a promising starting point for an effective up-scaling of SDSC devices.

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Journal of Power Sources Volume 246, 15 January 2014, Pages 361–364.