
Polymer solar cell hopes to claim new record﻿ - rbanffy
https://cen.acs.org/energy/solar-power/Polymer-solar-cell-hopes-claim/96/i22
======
shock
To be clear, since I originally found the article confusing – the record would
be for _organic_ solar cell's efficiency at 14.2%; they still have a way's to
go until they beat the record for a solar cell's efficiency which sits at
46%¹.

① - As of December 2014, the world record for solar cell efficiency at 46.0%
was achieved by using multi-junction concentrator solar cells, developed from
collaboration efforts of Soitec, CEA-Leti, France together with Fraunhofer
ISE, Germany.

~~~
agumonkey
what's second best ? 26% ?

~~~
shock
I think 26% is the efficiency of the best solar cells that are mass produced
right now.

~~~
gonesilent
And that turns into about 23% when you make it into a panel. Sunpower is still
the leader in cell and panel efficiency.

------
fernly
> These kinds of cells require two well-matched organic molecules. The first,
> usually a polymer, absorbs light and produces excited charges. The second,
> usually a small molecule, pulls electrons from the first, allowing them to
> flow through electrodes so the cell can generate current. The challenge is
> that when chemists improve, say, the light absorption of the donor, its
> electronic properties may no longer pair well with the acceptor

Sounds like an ideal problem for an evolutionary algorithm.

