Summary
Organic photovoltaic devices provide an opportunity to utilize solar energy efficiently and at low cost. To harvest a greater spectrum of light, scientists have sought to reduce the energy bandgap of the active material. UCLA researchers have developed a novel low-bandgap polymer that provides excellent photovoltaic performance in single junction devices (PCE >7%). This technology has application to organic solar cells, tandem solar cells, transparent solar cells, field-effect transistors, near infrared (NIR) organic photo-detectors, and NIR organic light emitting diodes, among others.