Grant: Research Tools and Instruments

Solar energy is the most abundant, readily accessible, sustainable, and clean energy source available on the earth. The most desirable approach to harvesting solar energy is to utilize a photovoltaic (PV) device or solar cell to convert the photo energy into electrical power that is convenient to transport, distribute, and use. Polymer solar cells have been the subject of extensive research over the past years because of the increasing demand for new clean and renewable energy sources. Although the performance of OPV has been greatly improved in the past few years with power conversion efficiencies exceeding 16%, there remain several challenges, namely, rather small area, poor stability and high materials cost, to be overcome prior to the commercialization of polymer solar cells. The applicant is conducting research on the development of new polymer materials to address these issues in collaboration with Canadian industrial partners and have obtained very promising results. However, the current equipment setup for the fabrication and testing of the solar cells at the University of Waterloo exposes the devices to the ambient air at certain steps, which causes large variations and underestimations of the material and device performance. The requested fund will be used to purchase critically needed instruments together with existing tools in the applicant's lab to complete a state-of-the-art integrated in situ solar cell fabrication and measurement system at the U. Waterloo. The system will support and propel forward polymer solar cell research in the applicant and other groups at the U. Waterloo and to enable more than 20 HQP to conduct world-leading research related to solar cells. **