FAST BREAKING PAPERS - 2008

  Why do you think your paper is highly cited?

It was a nice overview of research carried out in a European Project, called NANOMAX, by a highly qualified European consortium, with the aim being to develop and test new and improved ways to realize dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSC) with enhanced efficiencies and stabilities.

The whole value chain, ranging from materials development, advanced characterization and modeling, technology development or, lifetime studies, and cost analyses, were covered by this project and described in our paper, which is actually one of the first of this kind.

  Would you summarize the significance of your paper in layman's terms?

DSSC can be considered one of the emerging photovoltaic (PV) technologies aimed at achieving very low costs at moderate efficiency levels. For a successful introduction of this PV technology for outdoor applications, several factors are of importance: technical performance and fabrication, costs, design, market demand, and long-term stability.

To realize this, essential fundamental and technological research is required to answer the key questions related to efficiency, stability, manufacturability and scale-up of production. Each of these issues was investigated via the integrated research executed by a multidisciplinary team, consisting of researchers from outstanding universities, research institutes, and industry. The paper was therefore a representative state-of-the-art description of DSSC technology.

  How did you become involved in this research, and were there any problems along the way?

I worked on a fundamental project on organic solar cells at a Dutch University and moved to the department of Solar Energy at the Energy Research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN). At ECN, we work on a broad portfolio of PV technologies, ranging from short-to-mid-term options like Crystalline Silicon PV to mid-to-long-term options like thin-film PV, including thin-film silicon and organic-based PV (both DSC and all organic [polymer] PV).

The most important task for me is fulfilling the promise of the long-term options. Progress is not always as quick as one would choose. Some clear evidence of progress is important in order to guarantee the funding required for full development of the technology and thereby generate continued interest not only from the project's current industrial participants, but also from other potential industrial parties.

  Where do you see your research leading in the future?

In early 2008, we began a follow-up EU project, called "Robust DSC," with a similar consortium extended with some industrial participants and myself as coordinator. This project intends to accelerate the exploitation of this technology in the energy supply market.

  Do you foresee any social or political implications for your research?

The development of DSSC should be seen within the context of the total development of PV, which is considered as a potentially key technology for achieving a transition towards a sustainable energy supply system for the 21st century. PV has the potential to cover a significant share of worldwide electricity needs and could thereby contribute to the security of future energy supplies.

If research on DSSC is successful, the result would be the demonstration of a new scalable, low-cost, PV technology, which could form the basis of a potentially substantial business opportunity aimed at developing new solar cell products whose cost and payback characteristics are strongly advantaged over currently existing PV technologies.

Dr. Jan M. Kroon
Program Coordinator
Organic Thin Film Photovoltaics
Energy Research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN)
Department of Solar Energy
Petten, The Netherlands

Related:
 - View the Special Topic of Organic Thin Film Transistors.

Keywords: nanocrystalline dye-sensitized solar cells, NANOMAX, DSSC, photovoltaic, PV, Robust DSC.