Polymer energy conversion

For photovoltaic cells made with pure conjugated polymers, energy conversion efficiencies are typically 10-3-10-1%, too low to be used in practical applications [18,59]. Photoinduced charge transfer across a donor/acceptor (D/A)... 

The excellent photosensitivity and relatively high energy conversion efficiencies obtained from the bulk hetcrojunction materials arc promising. The monochromatic power efficiencies for conjugated polymer photovoltaic devices are around... 

Kaneko,M. and Yamada, A. Solar Energy Conversion by Functional Polymers. Vol. 55, pp. 1—48. 

Energy Conversion in Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cells...344... 

Numerous demonstrations in recent years have shown that the level of performance of present-day polymer electrolyte fuel cells can compete with current energy conversion technologies in power densities and energy efficiencies. However, for large-scale commercialization in automobile and portable applications, the merit function of fuel cell systems—namely, the ratio of power density to cost—must be improved by a factor of 10 or more. Clever engineering and empirical optimization of cells and stacks alone cannot achieve such ambitious performance and cost targets. 

Kirkpatrick, D. E., Hyun, K.S., and Chung, C.I., Friction and Its Effect on the Mechanical-to-Thermal Energy Conversion During Extrusion of Poly(Vinylidene Chloride), Polym. Eng. Set, 33, 1261 (1993)... 

The polymers derived from ruthenium(II)-polypyridine complexes have demonstrated promising potential for application in solar energy conversion, sensors, polymer-supported electrodes, nonlinear optics, photorefraction, and electroluminescence [27-32]. 

Any (bio)chemical reaction is accompanied by energy conversion, most often in the form of heat production, the amount of heat produced being proportional to that of substance converted. Therefore, heat is a highly nonspecific expression of a (bio)chemical reaction but can be used as indicative for a given substance when this is selectively converted (e.g. by effect of a catalyst, particularly an enzyme). This section discusses three types of sensors based on the use of as many types of devices for measurement of the heat involved in a biochemical reaction, namely fibre optics, polymer films and thermistors. 

In this review article, the functions of polymers and molecular assemblies for solar energy conversion will be described including photochemical conversion models, elemental processes for the conversion such as charge separation, electron transfer, and catalysis for water decomposition, as well as solar cells. 

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