Solar plastic

Fiber-reiaforced panels covered with PVF have been used for greenhouses. Transparent PVF film is used as the cover for flat-plate solar collectors (114) and photovoltaic cells (qv) (115). White PVF pigmented film is used as the bottom surface of photovoltaic cells. Nonadhering film is used as a release sheet ia plastics processiag, particularly ia high temperature pressing of epoxy resias for circuit boards (116—118) and aerospace parts. Dispersions of PVF are coated on the exterior of steel hydrauHc brake tubes and fuel lines for corrosion protection. 

The above-mentioned codes contain requirements for accelerated durabiUty tests. In addition, interlayer manufacturers and laminators expose test samples for several years under extreme weather conditions, eg, the Florida coast and Arizona desert. The laminated products weather extremely well, with no change in the plastic interlayer. Occasionally, clouding is noted around the edges when exposed to high humidity for long periods, but this is reversible. Colored areas of PVB laminates may fade while subjected to extensive uv/solar irradiation, which could cause an appearance issue. This has not, however, been shown to alter the laminate s other performance properties. 

Cadmium hydroxide is the anode material of Ag—Cd and Ni—Cd rechargeable storage batteries (see Batteries, secondary cells). Cadmium sulfide, selenide, and especially teUuride find utiUty in solar cells (see Solarenergy). Cadmium sulfide, Hthopone, and sulfoselenide are used as colorants (orange, yellow, red) for plastics, glass, glazes, mbber, and fireworks (see Colorants for ceramics Colorants forplastics Pigments). 

The maximum heat radiation that people are exposed to from a flarestack should not exceed 4.7 kW/m (1,500 Btu/ft /hr), about three times the peak solar radiation in the tropics. Even this amount of radiation can be withstood without injury for only a minute or two. The maximum to which people may be exposed continuously is about 1.7 kW/m (500 Btu/ft-/hr). In the neighborhood of flarestacks (say, wherever the radiation could exceed 1.7 kW/m ), the temperatures reached by cables, roofing materials, and plastic equipment should all be reviewed to make sure they cannot be damaged [8, 9]. 

Vacuum deposition of high-purity aluminium has been used as a bright finish of a decorative nature on domestic items and some car accessories, as well as special items for space missions where opacity to solar radiation was required. Continuous deposition on plastic strip at speeds up to 450m/min has been achieved. 

Artificial ice rinks are frozen shallow ponds, formed and maintained using a brine in tubes buried under the surface. Tubes may be steel or plastic for a permanent rink or plastic for a temporary installation. The brine temperature within the pipes will be about - 11°C, and must be lower for rinks in the open air, owing to high solar radiation loads. Packaged liquid chillers are now generally used, and will be transportable, complete with brine pumps and other apparatus, for temporary installations. 

Ultrafast photoinduced electron transfer in semiconducting polymers mixed with controlled amounts of acceptors this phenomenon has opened the way to a variety of applications including high-sensitivity plastic photodiodes, and efficient plastic solar cells ... 

Christian Doppler Laboratory for Plastic Solar Cells Physical Chemistry Johannes Kepler University Linz AltenbergerstraBe 69 A-4040 Linz Austria... 

Conjugated Polymer Based Plastic Solar Cells... 

The aim of this chapter is to give a state-of-the-art report on the plastic solar cells based on conjugated polymers. Results from other organic solar cells like pristine fullerene cells [7, 8], dye-sensitized liquid electrolyte [9], or solid state polymer electrolyte cells [10], pure dye cells [11, 12], or small molecule cells [13], mostly based on heterojunctions between phthaocyanines and perylenes [14], will not be discussed. Extensive literature exists on the fabrication of solar cells based on small molecular dyes with donor-acceptor systems (see for example [2, 3] and references therein). 

The chapter is organized as follows the second section will discuss the photophysics of conjugated polymer/fullerene composites as a standard model for a charge-generating layer in plastic solar cells. Pristine polymer devices will be discussed in the third section while bilayer and interpenetrating network devices are presented in Sections 4 and 5. Section 6 contains some remarks on large area plastic solar cells and Section 7 conclusions. 

Figure 15-31. l/V characteristics of a large area plastic solar cell ( illuminated with 488 nm, 10 rnW/ cm2). FF for the 1TO plastic cell is 0.35. As reference a pholocurrcnl of a polycrystalline Si cell is plotted ( ), 10 limes reduced. 

---