Nanotechnology Now - Press Release: Heliatek wins Materials Award for its breakthrough solar cell technology at IDTechEx Printed Electronics

Home > Press > Heliatek wins Materials Award for its breakthrough solar cell technology at IDTechEx Printed Electronics

Abstract:
Heliatek GmbH, technology leader in the field of organic solar films, has won the Materials Award at the IDTechEx Printed Electronics EUROPE 2012 in Berlin. This is the latest in a succession of awards for Heliatek's innovative organic solar film technology that promises to deliver a lighter, greener and more versatile alternative to traditional solar panels.

Heliatek wins Materials Award for its breakthrough solar cell technology at IDTechEx Printed Electronics

Posted on April 4th, 2012

The IDTechEx Printed Electronics Awards recognize company innovation, success and technology development in the field of printed, organic and flexible electronics. The Materials Award is given to the organization that has made the most significant development in enabling materials technology over the past 24 months. The judges were Professor Iain McCulloch, Imperial College London and Professor Elvira Fortunato, New University of Lisbon. One judge comments on Heliatek, "Heliatek materials have reached unparalleled performance for small molecules and have significantly stimulated the field of organic photovoltaics."

One of Heliatek's unique strengths is its in-house Chemistry Lab, developing and synthetizing new molecules. The material that won the award was developed through a very close collaboration between Heliatek's Physics and Chemistry departments. This new, small molecule, absorber material is called HDR14™. It offers high and broad absorption as well as good thermal and photo stability. HDR14™ has been key to Heliatek setting a series of world breaking efficiency records for organic PV cells, with the most recent being 9.8 % last November (independently certified by Fraunhofer ISE CalLab).

Thibaud Le Séguillon, CEO of Heliatek, says, "We are pleased to have won another prestigious award. Our solar technology offers many advantages over traditional panels and opens up new application areas thanks to its key features, namely ultra-light, ultra-thin, flexible and transparent. The Heliatek solar cells keep working efficiently in real world conditions as they maintain the same efficiency in low lighting and in hot conditions. Our cells have reached efficiency levels that start to make them marketable and we are confident that we will follow our plan to achieve 15 % efficiency in the next few years."

Dr. Martin Pfeiffer, Heliatek's CTO, adds, "Our technology is essentially the reverse of organic LEDs (OLED) - they take in electricity and emit light while we use light to create electricity. Heliatek is the only commercial player specializing in vacuum deposition of small molecules in organic photovoltaics, following the successful manufacturing approach of all major OLED display companies. There are many clear advantages for using this approach to create our patented tandem cell structure such as the excellent uniformity of the roll-to-roll vapor deposition process and scalability. We can use the tried and tested OLED manufacturing equipment to enable us to have a rapid ramp. In addition, ours is the first truly green solar technology as very little energy and material are required in our non-toxic production process, so the energy payback time of our cells is much shorter, under 6 months, than the one of silicon cells."

Pior to the Printed Electronics Materials Award, Heliatek's core technology of small organic molecules and its driving researchers Dr. Martin Pfeiffer (CTO and co-founder of Heliatek), Prof. Karl Leo (TU Dresden/co-founder of Heliatek), and Dr. Jan Blochwitz-Nimoth (Novaled AG), have been recognized with the 2011 Deutscher Zukunftspreis, the German President's Award for Technology and Innovation.

Heliatek has just opened its first proof-of-concept production line with a roll-to-roll process in Dresden, Germany, and is currently raising its next round of financing of €60 million from current and new investors for a 75 MW production line to rapidly expand production volume after official start of production in late summer 2012.

Printed Electronics Europe and IDTechEx:

Printed Electronics Europe is Europe's leading event on printed electronics, bringing together buyers and suppliers from around the World. It is part of the IDTechEx global series of events which are also held in the US and Asia annually. IDTechEx provides custom consulting, research and advisory services to help develop your business in these key topics. IDTechEx gives strictly independent marketing, technical and business advice and services in three forms - consulting, research and events covering printed, organic and flexible electronics, energy harvesting, electric vehicles and RFID.

For more information see www.IDTechEx.com.

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About Heliatek GmbH
Heliatek, a global leader in high-end solar technology, was spun-off in 2006 from the Technical University of Dresden (IAPP) and the University of Ulm. As the global technology leader in the field of flexible organic photovoltaics (OPV) based on small molecules, Heliatek set a new world record in OPV in recent months with a cell efficiency rate of 9.8%. Heliatek maintains a total staff of some 75 specialists at its facilities in Dresden and Ulm. Investors in Heliatek include leading industrial and financial companies such as BASF, Bosch, RWE, and Wellington Partners. Research and development work, as well as the installation of production technology, has been funded by the Free State of Saxony, the BMBF (Federal Ministry for Education & Research), the BMWi (Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology), and the European Union.

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Contacts:
Steffanie Rohr
Head of Marketing
Heliatek
Treidlerstraße 3
01139 Dresden, Germany
T (+49-351) 213-034508
F (+49-351) 213-03440
C (+49-173) 359-9693

Nigel Robson
Vortex PR
+44 1481 233080