This time line was created by Mr. Andrew Blair and Prof. D. Venkataraman at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Andrew is a freshman and participated in the First Year Research Experience Program. We thank Prof. Steve Goodwin, Dean of the College of Natural Sciences and Prof. Julian Tyson, Associate Dean of the College of Natural Sciences at UMass Amherst for their support.;xNLx;;xNLx;Email your questions or comments to dv'at'chem.umass.edu.
Becquerel observed a photocurrent between two electrodes submerged in solution, the photoelectrochemical process. A. E. Becquerel a.k.a. Edmund Becquerel, was the father of Henri Becquerel, who discovered Radioactivity
Willoughby Smith observes photoconducivity in selenium.
Charles Fritts builds on Willoughby Smith's observation and fabricates a Se Cell. Most sources refer to American Journal of Science 1883, 26, 465. We are unable to find this reference or verify this claim.
Aleksandr Stoletov builds the first photoelectric cell based on the photoelectric effect.
Pochettino studied the photoconductivity of anthracene.
Albert Einstein receives the Nobel Prize for "for his services to Theoretical Physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect"
Bell Laboratories develops the first inorganic solar cell based on silicon. Three years later, US Patent Office issues a patent to Bell Labs for 'Solar Energy Converting Apparatus' (2,780,765).
David Kearns and Melvin Calvin create a 'bilayered device' using magnesium phthalocyanine and oxidized tetramethyl p-phenylenediamine. This device created 200mV with a power output of 3 x 10^-12 W.
The "detailed balance limit of efficiency," also known as the Shockley-Queissier limit, is established, giving bounds to the achievable efficiencies of photovoltaics.
P.H.Fang devises equation to convert between apparent efficiency and real efficiency, leading to the idea of improvement of efficiency by Ohmic contact with organic materials.
Merritt and Hovel make films of OHSq, or hydroxy squarylium, dye which absorb light nearly encompassing the entire visible light spectrum. Also, .2% efficiency in Ga- and Hg-topped films.
R. D. Dupuis et al. create 12.8% (uncorrected) efficiency GaAlAs/GaAs cells grown through chemical vapor deposition, employing metalorganic and hydride sources. This was the first successful growth of these structures.
On Jul 5, 1977, NREL began its operation as SERI, the Solar Energy Research Institute.
Ghosh and Feng develop a theoretical model explaining the observed efficiency in .7% merocyanine organic solar cells. Click "Find out more" to read their abstract.
Researchers from Exxon Mobil report an OPV device with 1% efficiency (corrected) using semi-transparent aluminum electrodes. Prior progress had only achieved approximately .02% sunlight efficiency.
Tang from Eastman Kodak creates the first two-layer organic thin film, in which a single layer of organic material is sandwiched between two dissimilar electrodes. This first two-layer cell had a .95% power conversion efficiency, which, at that time, was one of the highest reported efficiencies.
O'Regan and Gratzel report the now famous 'Gratzel solar cell' using dye-sensitized colloidal TiO2 films.
Scientists from Osaka University make the first dye/dye bulk heterojunction PV by co-sublimation. The cell had an efficiency of 0.7%
Scientists from UC Santa Barbara report photoinduced electron transfer from MEH-PPV to C60.
Scientists from UC Santa Barabara report solar cells based on MEH-PPV and C60.
All polymer photodiodes reported by independently by Heeger and Friend Groups.
Scientists from Eindhoven report the use oligomer-carbon-60 dyads/triads as active material in PV cells.
A. Hagfeldt and Gratzel propose TiO2 nanoparticle film structure for ultrafast charge separation and increased efficiency.
Konarka opens in July of 2001, marking the beginning of the innovative manufacture of plastic solar cells.
C.J. Brabec et al. use plastics and increase the power conversion efficiency to 3%. Buckminsterfullerene is also used for ultrafast electron transfer. The recent improvements in efficiency enhanced emphasis in the field from multiple groups worldwide.
L. Schmidt-Mende et al. report a self-organized liquid crystalline solar cell composed of hexabenzocoronene and perylene.The efficiency was 1.95% at 495 nm.
Ramos uses double-cable polymers in photovoltaic cells.
Paul Alivisatos and co-workers report P3HT-CdSe Nanoparticle device with PCE of 1.7%.
G. Li et al. create 5% power conversion efficiency polymer photovoltaics using polymer blend of poly(3-hexylthiophene) and methanofullerene.
I. Gur et al. synthesize ambient-environment-stable, ultrathin all inorganic nanocrystal solar cells.
U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science established 46 Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRCs) to accelerate research toward meeting critical energy challenges.
Holcombe et al. of U.C. Berkeley synthesize an all-polymer solar cell form Grignard Metathesis polymerization
Y. Liang et al. create prototype polymer organic photovoltaic cells with PTB7. The OPV cells show power conversion efficiencies of 7.4%
Mitsubishi Chemical announces the production of 9.2% PCE OPV.
van der Poll et al. produce high-efficiency small-molecule OPV
Heliatek announces the prototype 10.7% PCE OPV
Konarka files for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Protection, marking "a tragedy for...the development of alternative energy in the United States."
The most recent NREL chart for PV efficiencies
Ramuz et al. produce the first all-carbon solar cell.
The use of organometal halide pervoskites as light absorbers results in 10.9% efficency by Snaith and co-workers
Heliatek announced that they are able to make an organic solar cells (with small molecules) with 12% efficiency.
Yang Yang's group report a 10.2% PCE in a tandem cell with two identical subunits.
Marks and co-workers achieve upto 80% FF in OPVs.
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