MATHERO · New materials for highly efficient and reliable organic solar cells

Over the last couple of years, the global research community has been experiencing an Organic Photovoltaics (OPV) boom, nowadays triggering a fast growing interest in industry in this young and disruptive technology, since OPV devices enable various new applications that cannot be served by classical silicon solar cells. In particular, OPV open up new opportunities for design in architecture, e.g. the integration of solar cells into facades, overhead glazings or windows.Major challenges associated with bringing organic photovoltaics to the market are: Increasing the power conversion efficiency, reducing the production costs and increasing the material and device long-time stability. A key to meet all those objectives is the utilization of environmentally friendly (“green”) synthesis of materials and green deposition techniques, since only green synthesis allows to go to large scale material and device fabrication.MatHero is designed to tweak all those key parameters in order to enable devices with a power conversion efficiency exceeding 10%, a cost reduction below 0.5 €/Wp and a life-time of more than 10 years by developing disruptive green synthesis and fabrication techniques. Hence, the MatHero proposal is in line with the efforts of the European Union to strengthen low-carbon energy supplies as described in its European Strategic Energy Technology Plan as the Materials Roadmap enabling Low Carbon Energy Technologies (SET-Plan).The MatHero consortium comprised world leading research groups and companies that are capable of reaching the challenging goals of MatHero. The companies can directly exploit the results and bring organic solar cells or components to the market.