Adding a small fraction of graphene flakes makes plastic-based solar cells three times as efficient

Researchers from the University of Cincinnati say that adding even a small fraction of graphene flakes to a polymer-blend bulk-heterojunction (BHJ) solar cell can improve the performance of those solar cells. In fact, the efficiency increased threefold compared to the same cell without graphene.

The researchers explain that graphene's very high charge conductivity helps to maximize the energy absorbed by the plastic solar cell. The performance of these cells is still "well below" the highest efficiency achieved in organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices.