Large Area and Printed Multi-Junction Cells

2 Large Area and Printed Multi-Junction Cells 

This effort demonstrates the feasibility of upscaling these complex devices, but the Krebs et al stress that more resources should be guided toward the development of inks specifically formulated to facilitate the roll-to-roll processing. These inks should be formulated by taking into account, on top of electrical and optical performance, viscosity, shelf life, thermal expansion coefficients, high elasticity and surface adhesion of all the layers. Furthermore, efficient sequential processing requires that each layer be dried in an oven before the next one is deposited and this happens commonly around 80 to 100 °C, which limits the choice of materials to use. 

In a comprehensive study, Brabec and Krebs et al. have addressed a cost analysis for single junction and tandem polymer solar cells based on 

Garcia-Belmonte, A. Kahn, J. Bisquert and D. Cahen, Energy Environ. Sci, 2012, 5, 6022. 

Drechsel, B. Mannig, F. Kozlowski, D. Gebeyehu, A. Werner, M. Koch, K. Leo and M. Pfeiffer, Thin Solid Films, 2004, 451-452, 515. 

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