New polymeric material brings companies one step closer to cheaper plastic solar cells and electronics [Press Releases]

Scientists from Singapore’s Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE), an institute of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) have created a new polymer with both high charge mobility and high power conversion efficiency for application in both plastic electronics and organic solar cells.

1. Singapore, 16 August 2011 – A single polymer that can be used in both new age plastic electronics as well as plastic solar cells could spell greater cost-savings and open up new design options for electronic and solar cell companies. A*STAR’s IMRE has developed a new polymer that not only produces a high charge mobility of 0.2 cm2/V.s, which is the same value achieved by commercially available semiconducting materials but also has a high solar power conversion efficiency of 6.3%. This makes IMRE’s polymer one of the few that has both these properties. In addition to this, polymers of the same class as IMRE’s, which are those that use thiophene and benzothiadiazole as the building blocks, could only achieve 2.2% power conversion. Read more