Solar cell pioneer bids to raise £5m to bring products to market

A SPIN-OUT company from the University of Warwick is bidding to raise £5m to create a bespoke technology facility capable of delivering its revolutionary products to market.

Molecular Solar plans to build on its recent success in gaining venture capital, and in joining a £2.1m research programme.

The company has developed a range of new technologies in the field of organic solar cells which places it is a unique position to exploit a range of new energy saving applications.

Molecular Solar researcher Professor Tim Jones, from the University of Warwick, said: “We are working with solar cells made from organic semiconductor materials which offer the prospect of very low cost manufacture of lightweight, flexible cells.

“They are made from sustainable materials and can be deployed as flexible sheets that could be used for a variety of applications including: a solar powered mobile phone charger that rolls up into a shape as small as the size of a pen, micro-lights that can be added to clothing, and a detachable sun-shade for automobile windscreens that powers a small integral fan to circulate air and cool the interior of the car when parked in direct sunlight.”

Molecular Solar is participating in a recently announced £2.1m project being funded by the Technology Strategy Board (TSB), the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the other participating companies: Kurt Lesker, Asylum Research and New World Solar to develop prototype third generation organic solar cells.  

The company has also attracted significant venture capital support following its breakthrough in developing a gold plated window as the transparent electrode for organic solar cells.

These electrodes have the potential to be relatively cheap since the thickness of gold used is only 8 billionths of a metre. This ultra-low thickness means that even at current gold prices the cost needed to fabricate one square metre of such an electrode is only around £4.50.

Dr Mark Payton, managing director of Mercia Fund Management, which is financing the company in collaboration with management and private investors, said: “Our model is to back world-leading academic excellence associated with scalable, disruptive technology – Molecular Solar excels on all fronts and we see this new venture as the potential leader in the development of third generation organic solar technology making this form of energy provision open to a much broader market place.”