Company

The photovoltaic market is developing in a distributed and diversified manner. Traditional photovoltaics are opaque, stiff, ugly, and fragile, unable to meet the needs of emerging markets. eFlexPV aims to commercialize the next-generation semitransparent, color-tunable and eco-friendly. Our market-oriented R&D is based on the technology originated from the scientific breakthrough of Professor He YAN (Henry) and his team at HKUST. In 2015, Prof. Yan’s research group demonstrated a world-record OPV efficiency of 11.5%, the first major scientific research achievement in the Greater China region that has been recorded in the internationally recognized NREL best-efficiency chart in the past 40 years. In 2019, eFlexPV broke the work record of tandem OPV efficiency and realized a certified 16.4% efficient single-junction OPV device. eFlexPV works on developing and commercializing highly efficient and stable third-generation OPV materials, devices and module, as well as exploring prototypes of OPV products for different markets. On the basis of material research and process exploration, eFlexPV will find OPV applications in building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPVs), vehicle-integrated photovoltaics (VIPVs), indoor PV applications such as cable-free sensors for Internet of Things (IoT), power-generating tents and other portable PV fields. While developing products and markets, eFlexPV will continue to improve its technology and maintain our leading position in scientific research.

Description

High-performance materials for organic photovoltaic (OPV) applications.

1. Novel OPV materials with power conversion efficiencies >15%
2. Organic photovoltaic devices and modules for indoor applications, e.g. smoke detectors, clocks, smart locks, smart switches, and variable sensors (need to order and customize)
3. Organic photovoltaic panels for outdoor applications (need to order and customize)
Technology:
Unlike traditional crystalline silicon-based solar cells, organic photovoltaics (OPVs) are semitransparent, flexible, color-tunable and eco-friendly. These beneficial features endow OPV with various niche markets such as indoor PV markets (high indoor efficiency), vehicle-integrated PV markets (color-tunable, flexible), building-integrated PV markets (semitransparent, light-weight) and portable PV markets (light-weight, flexible).
The last few years have witnessed a significant progress for OPVs. The power conversion efficiency (PCE) increased dramatically to above 16%.
The current research focus of OPV is to replace fullerenes with new non-fullerene materials. Non-fullerene-based third-generation OPVs will have higher PCE, longer life, more colors, higher transparency (adjustable), and therefore will have a broader market where traditional photovoltaic that cannot be applied. Meanwhile, OPVs can be produced from eco-friendly processes using Roll-to-Roll printing method, which renders dramatic advantage in cost-reduction over other PV technologies when the shipment volume is large.