Low Cost ‘Plastic’ Solar Cells

About the Speaker

After receiving a PhD in physics from UC Berkeley in 1961, Prof. Alan Heeger taught and conducted research at the University of Pennsylvania until 1982, when he became professor at UC Santa Barbara and director of its Institute for Polymers and Organic Solids. In 1990, Prof. Heeger founded the UNIAX Corporation to develop and manufacture light-emitting displays based on conducting polymers.

A member of both the US National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Engineering, Professor Heeger won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2000 for his contributions to the discovery and development of conductive polymers. The current mission of his research group is to utilize the discovery of ultrafast photoinduced electron transfer from semiconducting polymers to fullerenes to create a new generation of low cost solar cells. This technology is now under active development toward commercialization, and will have the potential for serious impact on the energy needs of our planet.