{"201941":{"#nid":"201941","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Trees Used to Create Recyclable, Efficient Solar Cell","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ESolar cells are just like leaves, capturing the sunlight and turning it into energy. It\u2019s fitting that they can now be made partially from trees.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Institute of Technology and Purdue University researchers have developed efficient solar cells using natural substrates derived from plants such as trees. Just as importantly, by fabricating them on cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) substrates, the solar cells can be quickly recycled in water at the end of their lifecycle.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe technology is \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.nature.com\/srep\/2013\/130325\/srep01536\/full\/srep01536.html\u0022\u003Epublished\u003C\/a\u003E in the journal Scientific Reports, the latest open-access journal from the Nature Publishing Group.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe researchers report that the organic solar cells reach a power conversion efficiency of 2.7 percent, an unprecedented figure for cells on substrates derived from renewable raw materials. The CNC substrates on which the solar cells are fabricated are optically transparent, enabling light to pass through them before being absorbed by a very thin layer of an organic semiconductor. During the recycling process, the solar cells are simply immersed in water at room temperature. Within only minutes, the CNC substrate dissolves and the solar cell can be separated easily into its major components.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech College of Engineering Professor Bernard Kippelen led the study and says his team\u2019s project opens the door for a truly recyclable, sustainable and renewable solar cell technology.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe development and performance of organic substrates in solar technology continues to improve, providing engineers with a good indication of future applications,\u201d said Kippelen, who is also the director of Georgia Tech\u2019s Center for Organic Photonics and Electronics (COPE). \u201cBut organic solar cells must be recyclable. Otherwise we are simply solving one problem, less dependence on fossil fuels, while creating another, a technology that produces energy from renewable sources but is not disposable at the end of its lifecycle.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETo date, organic solar cells have been typically fabricated on glass or plastic. Neither is easily recyclable, and petroleum-based substrates are not very eco-friendly. For instance, if cells fabricated on glass were to break during manufacturing or installation, the useless materials would be difficult to dispose of. Paper substrates are better for the environment, but have shown limited performance because of high surface roughness or porosity. However, cellulose nanomaterials made from wood are green, renewable and sustainable. The substrates have a low surface roughness of only about two nanometers.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cOur next steps will be to work toward improving the power conversion efficiency over 10 percent, levels similar to solar cells fabricated on glass or petroleum-based substrates,\u201d said Kippelen. The group plans to achieve this by optimizing the optical properties of the solar cell\u2019s electrode. \u0022We will also coat these cells with an eco-friendly, thin environmental barrier coating to protect the cells from water and oxygen when operating in the field.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPurdue School of Materials Engineering associate professor Jeffrey Youngblood collaborated with Kippelen on the research.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EA provisional patent on the technology has been filed with the U.S. Patent Office.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThere\u2019s also another positive impact of using natural products to create cellulose nanomaterials. The nation\u2019s forest product industry projects that tens of millions of tons of them could be produced once large-scale production begins, potentially in the next five years.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe research is the latest project by COPE, which studies the use and development of printed electronics. Last year the center created the first-ever \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/newsroom\/release.html?nid=124901\u0022\u003Ecompletely plastic solar cell\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003EThis research was funded in part through the Center for Interface Science: Solar Electric Materials, an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences under Award Number DE-SC0001084 (Y.Z., J.S., C.F., A.D.), by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (Grant No. FA9550-09-1-0418) (J. H.), by the Office of Naval Research (Grant No. N00014-04-1-0313) (T.K., B.K.), and the U.S. Department of Agriculture \u2013Forest Service (Grant No. 12-JV-11111122-098). Funding for CNC substrate processing was provided by USDA-Forest Service (Grant No. 11-JV-11111129-118) (R.J.M., J.P.Y., J.L.). The authors thank Rick Reiner and Alan Rudie from the U.S. Forest Service- Forest Products Laboratory (FPL) for providing CNC materials.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Institute of Technology and Purdue University researchers have developed efficient solar cells using natural substrates derived from plants such as trees. Just as importantly, by fabricating them on cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) substrates, the solar cells can be quickly recycled in water at the end of their lifecycle.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Research project opens the door for a sustainable and renewable solar technology"}],"uid":"27560","created_gmt":"2013-03-25 13:39:23","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:13:55","author":"Jason Maderer","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2013-03-25T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2013-03-25T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"202051":{"id":"202051","type":"image","title":"Solar Cell Made from Trees","body":null,"created":"1449179952","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:59:12","changed":"1475894856","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:47:36","alt":"Solar Cell Made from Trees","file":{"fid":"196608","name":"solar_cell_gatech_3.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/solar_cell_gatech_3_0.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/solar_cell_gatech_3_0.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":893917,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/solar_cell_gatech_3_0.jpeg?itok=_NoBqJS5"}},"202061":{"id":"202061","type":"image","title":"Solar Cell Made from Trees 2","body":null,"created":"1449179952","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:59:12","changed":"1475894856","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:47:36","alt":"Solar Cell Made from Trees 2","file":{"fid":"196609","name":"solar_cell_gatech_1.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/solar_cell_gatech_1_0.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/solar_cell_gatech_1_0.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":8329329,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/solar_cell_gatech_1_0.jpeg?itok=NpcLrsA1"}},"202041":{"id":"202041","type":"image","title":"Kippelen Lab","body":null,"created":"1449179952","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:59:12","changed":"1475894856","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:47:36","alt":"Kippelen Lab","file":{"fid":"196607","name":"group_shot.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/group_shot.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/group_shot.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":251172,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/group_shot.jpg?itok=4zkfYhBe"}},"201991":{"id":"201991","type":"image","title":"Bernard Kippelen","body":null,"created":"1449179943","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:59:03","changed":"1475894856","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:47:36","alt":"Bernard Kippelen","file":{"fid":"196604","name":"bernard1-300dpi.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/bernard1-300dpi_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/bernard1-300dpi_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1050195,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/bernard1-300dpi_0.jpg?itok=zxa8Ej1q"}}},"media_ids":["202051","202061","202041","201991"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.nature.com\/srep\/2013\/130325\/srep01536\/full\/srep01536.html","title":"Published Article"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.cope.gatech.edu\/","title":"COPE"}],"groups":[{"id":"1183","name":"Home"}],"categories":[{"id":"144","name":"Energy"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"918","name":"COPE"},{"id":"479","name":"Green Buzz"},{"id":"167411","name":"solar cells"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39531","name":"Energy and Sustainable Infrastructure"},{"id":"39491","name":"Renewable Bioproducts"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EJason Maderer\u003Cbr \/\u003EMedia Relations\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:maderer@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Emaderer@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E404-385-2966\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["maderer@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}