Project overview
One
can observe a strongly increasing R&D-effort in the domain of solar cells based
on organic layers.
This progress is
essentially based on the introduction of nanostructured material systems to
enhance the photovoltaic performance of these devices. The growing
interest is fuelled by the potentially very low cost of organic solar
cells thanks to the low cost of the involved substrates, the low cost of the
active materials of the solar cell, the low energy input for the actual solar
cell/module process and last, but not least, the asset of flexibility. In
addition, the ease of up-scalability of the required application technologies
lowers the threshold for new players to enter this field. These efforts have
resulted in the creation of technologies which are approaching the stage of
first industrialization initiatives. These industrial activities target in first
instance the market of consumer applications where energy autonomy can be
ensured by integrating these flexible solar cells on a large variety of
surfaces.
In order to have a
real impact on the PV-market, additional progress is needed on the level of
efficiency, stability and application technologies to allow also the application
of these solar cell technologies for power generation on a larger scale. The
orgaPVnet coordination
action consortium wants to foster necessary progress on these issues by
integrating a number of leading institutions in this field in association with
the main industrial players entering this field. We believe that a Coordination
Action is an appropriate vehicle by which the isolated competences that exist
around
Europe
in this field can be integrated, structured and organised.
In this way a powerful Organic Photovoltaic Platform will be created that
can sustain the leading R&D-position of
Europe within this domain and in the end strengthen
European competitiveness in a sector which is of high strategic relevance in
ensuring a sustainable energy supply. Key actions to reach the above-mentioned
objectives are: i)
to promote interaction between scientists, ii) to take advantage
of the previous experience of research groups, iii) to join
forces to maximize the synergy between individual skills, thus obtaining the
best achievable global results, and iv) to provide an appropriate communication
channel between academic groups, SMEs and industrials.
orgaPVnet
will contribute to this by: a) the exchange of information during the workshops
organized by the network, (b) scientific exchange between partners by research
visits of scientist and student grants, (c) Set-up of a web-based database
containing news, resources, project results, reports, links, seminars, training,
courses, job opportunities, grants, (d) Elaboration of a
“Who is Who” Guide in organic photovoltaic field, (e)
Elaboration of the European Organic Photovoltaic Roadmap: identification of
scientific priority areas and formulation of research and
development strategies.
