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Improving Organic Glasses for OLEDs and Solar Cells


Guest_Jim_*

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While glass most often refers to the material used to make windows, there are many other materials that are glasses, such as obsidian (volcanic glass) and metal glasses. Some glasses are even made of carbon compounds, so they are called organic glasses and they have various applications. For some applications though, they are less efficient than inorganic counterparts, but researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have made a discovery that could change that.

Organic glasses are made using a vapor deposition process, where the molecules are evaporated at high temperature, and then condense on a substrate, forming ultrathin layers. What the researchers found is a way to alter the properties of the glass, by influencing the orientation of the molecules. This was accomplished by manipulating the temperature of the substrate. The result is organic glasses that can be more efficient and durable than currently available technologies.

Organic glasses are already used in some devices, as they are used in OLEDs, but this work could improve their use in organic solar cells by increasing their efficiency. These solar cells have the potential to be much cheaper and more resilient than modern, crystalline silicon solar cells, but have proven less efficient so far.

Source: University of Wisconsin-Madison


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