TFT based solar cell by Mitsubishi
Mitsubishi chemical has unveiled its organic based solar cell during the PV Expo in Tokyo. The newly developed solar cell is based on organic semiconductor material that Mitsubishi developed for TFTs back in 2006. The thin film solar cell uses a fullerene derivative for the N-Type material and Mitsubishi’s own developed material “benzoporphyrin (BP)” for the p-type material which was developed for the material of deriver TFTs for OLED and electronic paper. The company decided to apply the same material in solar cell application due to its bandgap that was suitable for solar cells. The current prototype uses the single junction cell with one P-N junction where the company is hoping to achieve the 10% conversion efficiency. Mitsubishi will use the tandem solar cell to achieve the conversion efficiency of 15% sometimes by year 2015. At the moment the solar cell has an energy conversion efficiency of only 4.9% for a 2mm square cell structure.
