This award is being co-funded by the Office of International and Integrated Activities. The primary objective of this proposal is to improve the science and technology of organic photovoltaic materials and devices through active collaboration between scientists in the U.S. and in India. A further objective is to further the education of U.S. graduate students in this field by providing opportunities for them to work collaboratively with their peers at Universities and research laboratories in India. This proposal is focused on starting such collaboration by holding two workshops in this field, one in the U.S., and one in India. The effort is to be jointly supported by U.S. NSF for U.S. scientists and by India's Indo-US Science and Technology Forum for the Indian scientists. This workshop will focus on the organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices that are an up and coming technology of significant interest for delivering low cost, distributed electric power for rural populations. In principle, OPV devices offer a very low cost pathway for generating electricity using energy from the sun. However, for economical generation of energy, both the conversion efficiency, and the stability of organic solar cells has to improve significantly. The current generation of OPV devices has reached energy efficiencies but degrade in a very short time. These are significant problems that need to be overcome to make the technology economically feasible, and this workshop will bring together some of the best people working in this field from both the U.S. and India to address the critical issues in this technology. It is expected that the workshops will lead to complementary and synergistic research projects in this field in both countries, thereby accelerating the development of the science and technology of OPV materials and devices. OPV technology offers a potential low-cost pathway for meeting some of the energy needs. Both India and the U.S. have a significant industrial base in the area of photovoltaic technology, and this joint effort will benefit industries in both countries. The impact on education of U.S. graduate students is likely to be significant. It is important that U.S. students in Engineering and Sciences experience the research and economic infrastructure in developing countries such as India, so that they can design the devices appropriate to India which is a vast potential market for U.S. companies.
This project was focused on fostering collaboration between scientists in the U.S. and in India in the field of organic solar cells. Toward this end, two workshops were organized, one in the U.S. at National renewable Energy Lab, and one in India at Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur. Scientists form universities and national labs in both countries, as well as graduate students from both countries, attended these workshops. The workshops allowed for active participation from the attendees. In addition to the workshops, the PI in the U.S. made several visits to a number of leading Indian Universities to foster collaborative research in this field. Some of the outcomes from the workshops and visits were: Many collaborations were established between US and Indian scientists in the field of organic and hybrid solar cells. These collaborations involve collaborative research, exchanges of samples and exchanges of scientists and students. A number of post-doctoral scientists from India are currently spending time at U.S. universities and laboratories working in this field. Several new concepts and ideas for improving devices and materials were discussed at the workshops and are being followed through by scientists in both countries. Special material and device samples prepared in both the U.S. and in India are being examined by scientists from both countries so as to achieve higher performance and stability in organic and hybrid organic/inorganic solar cells. New hybrid materials such as perovskites which hold greater promise for improving the performance of photovoltaic devices were examined and areas for collaborative research and experiments in this new material system were identified and preliminary results were discussed. In summary, the objectives of the project were met and successful collaborations between US and Indian scientists in the important field of organic and hybrid PV were established. An important aspect was the active involvement of graduate students from both countries in the project.
