Scientists Develop Solar Cell Polymer With Double Charge Production

Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory and Columbia University have developed a solar cell polymer that doubles its electrical charge carrier per unit of light from one carrier to two.

The process of producing two producing two charges from one unit of light is called singlet fission. This discovery can alter the manufacturing process of solar energy producing materials. Having two charges on the same molecule mans that energy-producing materials don't have to be arrayed as perfect crystals. The self-contained materials work efficiently when dissolved in liquids which opens up new ways to develop solar cells including "printing" solar-energy-producing material like ink.

A polymer is a combination of chemical compounds that is made up of repeating structural units (as in a molecular structure). The structure of the polymer dictates it properties.

Polymers are usually associated with plastics. The material used for credit cards is a polymer, as well as PVC plastics and PET water bottles. But polymers can be in any form. Hairspray and mousse is a polymer. Fabrics like spandex are also polymers. While these are synthetic, there are also natural polymers like rubber and amber.

The image above shows Postdoctoral fellow Erik Busby and Matt Sfeir with optical equipment they used to study charge carrier production in organic photovoltaic polymers at Brookhaven Lab's Center for Functional Nanomaterials.

University of Houston Abstract on Using Polymer Electrolytes on Lithium Ion Batteries

The University of Houston presented its research on the advantages of using polymer electrolytes in lithium ion batteries. This research was presented at a meeting of the American Chemical Society as part of the 245th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society. The abstract on Polymer Electrolytes follows:

Next generation polymer nanocomposite electrolytes for lithium ion batteries

Haleh Ardebili, University of Houston
Phone: 713-743-4500
Email: hardebili@uh.edu

MIT News: Microchips Using Self Assembling Polymers

Researchers at MIT have developed a new approach to creating the complex array of wires and connections on microchips, using a system of self-assembling polymers. The work could eventually lead to a way of making more densely packed components on memory chips and other devices.

The new method — developed by MIT visiting doctoral student Amir Tavakkoli of the National University of Singapore, along with two other graduate students and three professors in MIT’s departments of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) and Materials Science and Engineering (DMSE) — is described in a paper published this August in the journal Advanced Materials; the paper is available online now.

The process is closely related to a method the same team described last month in a paper in Science, which makes it possible to produce three-dimensional configurations of wires and connections using a similar system of self-assembling polymers.

In the new paper, the researchers describe a system for producing arrays of wires that meet at right angles, forming squares and rectangles. While these shapes are the basis for most microchip circuit layouts, they are quite difficult to produce through self-assembly. When molecules self-assemble, explains Caroline Ross, the Toyota Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and a co-author of the papers, they have a natural tendency to create hexagonal shapes — as in a honeycomb or an array of soap bubbles between sheets of glass.

For example, an array of tiny ball bearings in a box “tends to give a hexagonal symmetry, even though it’s in a square box,” Ross says. “But that’s not what circuit designers want. They want patterns with 90-degree angles” — so overcoming that natural tendency was essential to producing a useful self-assembling system, she says.