Organized Hole Conducting Polymer/Nanoparticle Composite Solar Cell Fiber

Recent innovations in noncrystalline solar cells are beginning to emerge as viable replacements to traditional CVD grown single crystal counterparts in applications that demand high specific power, low product cost ($/sq.ft.) and ultimately scalable unit energy cost ($/W). Future NASA missions stand poised for adopting these new photovoltaics systems that are deposited onto lightweight, flexible substrates. Nanohmics proposes to fabricate a heterojunction solar cell composite consisting of high weight fraction titanium dioxide nanoparticles blended with amphiphilic, regioregular conducting polythiophene that are highly organized at an air-water interface. Furthermore, Nanohmics is proposing to prepare a novel device geometry that involves a low-cost, co-axial deposition process of all the cell layers onto core metal (e.g. copper, aluminum) or metal-coated fibers. Deposition of the blocking layers, heterojunction phase, and transparent conducting electrode in this fashion will lead to individual solar cell "threads", SuntwineTM.