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Materials

Start-Up Solarmer Eyes Solar-Cell Advance

by Michael McCoy
January 26, 2009 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 87, Issue 4

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Credit: U of Chicago
Yu (right) and Ph.D. student Yongye Liang display PTB1.
Credit: U of Chicago
Yu (right) and Ph.D. student Yongye Liang display PTB1.

Solarmer Energy is using technology from UCLA and the University of Chicago to develop polymer-based solar cells that are more efficient at converting sunlight to electricity. The El Monte, Calif.-based firm was formed in 2006 to commercialize technology developed in the UCLA lab of materials scientist Yang Yang. Now, Solarmer has licensed rights to PTB1, a semiconducting polymer developed by University of Chicago chemistry professor Luping Yu. Solarmer is targeting sunlight conversion rates of 8%, versus 5 to 6% for competing polymeric materials.

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