Researchers to Develop Graphene Organic Photovoltaic Sheets to Collect Solar Energy

A team of scientists at the University of South California’s Viterbi School of Engineering find a new way to collect solar energy by creating new graphene organic photovoltaic sheets. The process involved in producing these sheets is both cost effective and very easy.

The working principle of this method is simple. It involves mixing of hydrogen and methane gases to produce graphene deposits on a nickel plate. Then, a thermo plastic layer is attached to collect graphene whereas nickel is dissolved in an acid bath. The highly transparent and conductive graphene is attached to a flexible polymer sheet, which is layered into an OPV cell.

According to the researchers, the OPV sheets are flexible, cost effective and light weight, having the possibility to be used in many applications, including at home.

Unlike silicon cells which produce 14 watts watts of electricity the new graphene organic photovoltaic sheets are able to generate only 1.3 watts of energy from 1000 watts of solar power directed on a square meter of space.