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IMEC and Cytec Collaborate to
Increase the Lifetime of Organic Photovoltaics
Woodland Park, NJ, and Leuven, Belgium – April 9, 2009 – Cytec
Industries Inc. (NYSE:CYT), a global leader in specialty
chemicals and materials, and IMEC, Europe’s leading independent
nanoelectronics research institute, today announce that they
will work together to develop a commercially viable technology
for organic photovoltaic devices with enhanced stability and
extended lifetime.
Over the last few years, worldwide research on organic solar
cells has mainly focused on increasing the conversion
efficiency. However, the operational lifetime of organic solar
cells must be improved to extend beyond 5 years. This challenge
is the basis of the collaboration between Cytec and IMEC.
To reach this goal the project will be approached from two
different angles. First, intrinsic stability issues of organic
solar cells will be tackled by stabilizing the nanomorphology of
the active material blend. IMEC has already shown that the
photo-active blend of conjugated polymers and fullerene acceptor
molecules is prone to phase segregation under the influence of
time and temperature. To halt this, IMEC and Cytec will join
their expertise in chemical synthesis and materials processing.
Concurrently, the ingress of extrinsic degradation sources of
oxygen and water vapor will be suppressed by the development of
an appropriate barrier, encapsulation technology. The technology
solutions will build on Cytec’s core competencies of interfacial
engineering and coating technology and on IMEC’s background in
organic solar cell processing and analysis. The project, which
is co-sponsored by the Institute for the Promotion of Innovation
by Science and Technology in Flanders, will run for two years
and will end in March, 2011.
Cytec’s Specialty Chemicals Vice President of R&D, Martin Court,
said: “Cytec is very pleased to have the opportunity to work on
this project together with IMEC. We are convinced that Cytec’s
capabilities in coatings, adhesives, inks and energy curing
technology combined with IMEC’s outstanding processing and
technology capabilities will make this project a success.”
IMEC’s Program Director Photovoltaics, Jef Poortmans, added:
“Organic solar cell technology is one of the most exciting
emerging technologies for low-cost photovoltaic cells. IMEC is
very pleased to have the opportunity to combine its process
technology expertise with the excellent skills of Cytec in the
field of synthesis and coatings to address the crucial issue of
device stability and encapsulation”.
About IMEC
IMEC is a world-leading independent research center in
nanoelectronics and nanotechnology. IMEC vzw is headquartered in
Leuven, Belgium, has a sister company in the Netherlands,
IMEC-NL, offices in the US, China and Taiwan, and
representatives in Japan. Its staff of more than 1650 people
includes about 550 industrial residents and guest researchers.
In 2008, its revenue (P&L) was estimated to EUR 270 million.
IMEC’s More Moore research aims at semiconductor scaling towards
sub-32nm nodes. With its More than Moore research, IMEC looks
into technologies for nomadic embedded systems, wireless
autonomous transducer solutions, biomedical electronics,
photovoltaics, organic electronics and GaN power electronics.
IMEC’s research bridges the gap between fundamental research at
universities and technology development in industry. Its unique
balance of processing and system know-how, intellectual property
portfolio, state-of-the-art infrastructure and its strong
network worldwide position IMEC as a key partner for shaping
technologies for future systems. Further information on IMEC can
be found at www.imec.be.
About Cytec
Cytec Industries Inc. is a global specialty chemicals and
materials company focused on developing, manufacturing and
selling value-added products. Our products serve a diverse range
of end markets including aerospace, adhesives, automotive and
industrial coatings, chemical intermediates, electronics, inks,
mining and plastics. We use our technology and application
development expertise to create chemical and material solutions
that are formulated to perform specific and important functions
in the finished products of our customers. Further information
about Cytec can be found on www.cytec.com.
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