Organic Solar cells - Essay Example

In 1954, three scientists called Chapin, Fuller and Pearson developed the first solar cell in a lab. It was until the 1970s when the physics community caught up with them by working on a series of researches in the field of solar energy. Eastman Kodak became the first commercial organisation to create an organic cell in 1986. The device was made by an analyst called Tang, who worked for the organisation. More research continued to be done in the field and by 2007; a high efficient solar cell was created at a spectrolab.

It had values of about 40.7%, which was a great improvement from Chapin and his colleagues’ 6% (Rivers 96). Currently, more research is underway in the field in order to boost outcomes. Solar cells are a used in electronic devices like calculators and laptops. Satellite images heavily rely on these materials for carrying out their roles. One is also likely to find the products in remote locations where no connections to power grids exist. However, they are yet to be regarded as a reliable source for electricity for electricity distribution.

The cost of making solar energy from these materials is also prohibitive on a large scale. It costs four times, as much money, to generate 1 KWh of electricity from solar energy in comparison to conventional methods (Iyer 17). These typical methods include cycle gas turbines and remote diesel generation. Organic cells could be the answer to reduction of costs and elimination of other prohibitive factors in solar cell technology. Organic solar cells have low cost processing and high throughput.

This implies that it is relatively easy to spray, vaporise, spin coat and print them. They capture light efficiently due to high absorption rates. The devices can even be processed in solution form at room temperature. Silicon-based solar cells are unlikely to go down in terms of prices, but this is untrue for organic ones. Additionally, they