Cornell大学的化学和生物化学Dichtel小组已经开发了一种方法将组织有机染料，将其堆叠灵活纳入多孔的太阳能电池板中。这一过程可能会产生大大降低太阳能电池的成本的革命，同时建立高效，易于制造太阳能电池。
该工艺采用有机染料作为一个共价有机架（COF）的分子中。该方法使用一个简单的酸催化剂和相对稳定的邻苯二酚分子，整齐排列在一起形成的二维表的关键分子。 这些表可以堆叠的方式排列，形成格子状，这样就能使分子通过材料移动。
在这个框架的核心是所谓的酞菁分子，常见的工业染料，经常用于蓝色牛仔裤燃料和钢笔水蓝中。它也和叶绿素相关，能吸收了几乎整个太阳光谱。
Evolution Solar太阳能是目前与Texas Southern大学将会在休斯顿大学校园建设太阳能示范点。该项目会帮助Evolution Solar在竞争日益激烈能源行业得到一些新的项目，其中也包括英国石油公司，阿帕奇公司，Devon能源公司和EOG资源公司新项目。
The Dichtel group in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Cornell University has developed a method to organize organic dyes into stacked sheets that are porous for incorporation into flexible solar cells. The process could revolutionize the way solar cells are made by lowering costs dramatically, while creating highly-efficient and easy-to-manufacture solar cells.
The process employs organic dye molecules assembled into a structure known as a covalent organic framework (COF). The strategy uses a simple acid catalyst and relatively stable molecules called protected catechols to assemble key molecules into a neatly ordered 2D sheet. These sheets can be stacked on top of one another to form a lattice that provides pathways for charge to move through the material.
At the core of the framework are molecules called phthalocyanines, a class of common industrial dyes used in products from blue jeans to ink pens. Phthalocyanines are also closely related in structure to chlorophyll, which absorbs almost the entire solar spectrum.
This structure is a model that can significantly broaden the scope of materials that can be used in COFs. Once the framework is assembled, the pores between the molecular latticework could potentially be filled with another organic material to form light and flexible solar cells.
"This framework developed by Cornell researchers could possibly be one of the most significant advances in making solar energy more competitive with fossil fuels," stated Robert Hines, President of Evolution Solar. "Also, advances like this could significantly lower up-front costs for solar power systems, which has been a deterrent for the industry that we would like to see disappear."
Evolution Solar is currently building a solar demonstration site in partnership with Texas Southern University, to be located at the University's Houston Campus. The project should help Evolution Solar acquire new projects in a sector that is growing to compete in the energy industry, which includes BP, Apache Corporation, Devon Energy Corporation and EOG Resources Inc.
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