A round robin study of flexible large-area roll-to-roll processed polymer solar cell modules

A round robin for the performance of roll-to-roll coated flexible large-area polymer solar cell modules involving 18 different laboratories in Northern America, Europe and Middle East is presented. The study involved the performance measurement of the devices at one location (Risø DTU) followed by transportation to a participating laboratory for performance measurement and return to the starting location (Risø DTU) for re-measurement of the performance. It was found possible to package polymer solar-cell modules using a flexible plastic barrier material in such a manner that degradation of the devices played a relatively small role in the experiment that has taken place over 4 months. The method of transportation followed both air-mail and surface-mail paths. The evaluation of performance was achieved using both simulated sunlight and real sun light. The main purpose was to demonstrate that it is possible with the current technology to share devices and obtain consistent data even over long periods of time.