At VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd., one of their visions is to develop novel energy harvesting solutions with the help of flexible, lightweight organic or perovskite photovoltaics (PV). Then integrate these PV materials with other components, such as energy storage systems, sensors with Bluetooth, or near-field communication features.

The easy processing of these materials enables the design of your choice and several coating methods, using less energy than the production of conventional silicon solar cells. VTT offers material testing in the laboratory up to preparation of pilot-scale printed/coated photovoltaic devices and systems (including encapsulation) in a roll-to-roll fashion. They have several characterization methods to test solar cells, e.g. I-V curve testing in air or nitrogen, accelerated ageing, and optical quality control.

With the newly acquired LumiSolarCell system from greateyes, VTT is able to offer its partners multiple optical characterization solutions for the quality control of solar cells and modules. This is not only useful for roll-to-roll printed PVs but it can also be used with other PV technologies and various printed components. The LumiSolarCell system at VTT Oulu offers photoluminescence (PL), electroluminescence (EL), infrared (IR) imaging, and dark lock-in thermography (DLIT). For example, with printed free-form OPVs these tools provide valuable insight into the quality of the printed layers through non-destructive imaging techniques. The greateyes software platform provides a user-friendly approach for multiple modes of data acquisition.

Please contact Dr Thomas Kraft (thomas.kraft@vtt.fi), Senior Scientist from VTT’s Printed Materials Systems team for more information.