Could OLEDs be used for low cost solar energy production?

DaveS's picture
Submitted by DaveS on Tue, 2007-06-12 12:35. :: | | |


Organic Photovoltaic Design

OLEDs (organic light-emitting diodes) are very thin sheets of polymers or plastic materials that illuminate if an electrical charge is applied. OLED technology currently is finding its way into commercial applications in display applications like cell phones and laptop screens, mp3 players etc.

It turns out that if you slightly modify the basic OLED device architecture, you get an organic photovoltaic device that can convert light energy into electricity.

Low-cost plastic photovoltaic sheets could be used as roofing materials on homes and businesses to act as a clean, renewable source of energy.
Due to their thin, flexible nature, perhaps they could also be built into the surfaces of cars, buses and trains as an additional energy source.

Further info on OLEDs can be found at Wikipedia