Solarmer Energy develops plastic solar cells in conjunction with University of Chicago
23rd January 2009
Solarmer Energy is developing plastic solar cells for portable electronic devices, using technology invented at the University of Chicago.
Dina Lozofsky, vice president of IP development at Solarmer, believes the company is on track to complete a commercial-grade prototype later this year.
‘New materials with higher efficiencies are really the key in our industry. Plastic solar cells are behind traditional solar-cell technology in terms of the efficiency that it can produce right now,’ Lozofsky said. ‘Everyone in the industry is in the five per cent to six per cent range.’
The invention, a new semiconducting material called PTB1, converts sunlight into electricity.
Solarmer, based in California, US, was founded in 2006 to commercialise technology developed in Professor Yang Yang’s laboratory at the University of California, Los Angeles. The company is developing flexible, translucent plastic solar cells that generate low-cost, clean energy from the sun.
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