Performance Optimized Solar Energy Generation Technology

To address the Army need for a novel primary power technology that gathers power from the high-altitude platform environment, such as photovoltaics (PV), Physical Optics Corporation (POC) proposes to develop a new Performance Optimized Solar Energy Generation (POSEG) technology. The proposed POSEG is based on flexible high mobility transport material and high quantum yield photosensitized material, coated with a transparent electrode, and encapsulated in a transparent protective layer. The innovation in solar-spectrum-matching through doping with photosensitized material in an efficient light-trapping structure to improve solar conversion efficiency will enable the device to achieve a power conversion efficiency >20% and a specific mass power of ~1000 W/kg. In Phase I, POC will demonstrate the feasibility of POSEG by fabricating and testing flexible prototype photovoltaic cells that could be incorporated into a high-altitude platform as a limited-scale demonstration of the cell concept and manufacturing process. In Phase II, POC plans to further refine the solar cell design and develop a draft design of full-scale manufacturing equipment to reduce the solar cell production cost significantly, and reach Technology Readiness Level 4.