Organic Semiconductors and Organic Photovoltaics

Global Photonic Energy Corporation (GPEC) has developed a significant body of proprietary knowledge and intellectual property in organic semiconductor based photovoltaic ("solar") cell technology. Organic semiconductors are carbon-rich compounds with a structure tailored to optimize a particular function, such as responsiveness to a particular range of visible light. The use of organic compounds as semiconductors for commercial applications is very new.

Organic semiconductors have elicited intense interest globally as they hold the promise of ultra-low cost and high performance along with a host of break-through new properties that unlock exciting new product opportunities.

Organic electronic materials can be classified into three main categories: "small-molecules", "polymers" and biological compounds. "Small-molecule" is a term broadly used to refer to compounds that have a well-defined molecular weight. The weight of each molecule of a particular small-molecule is the same. Alternatively, polymers are long-chain molecules comprised of a varying number of repeat units. The weight of each polymer molecule of the same polymer is different. On the extreme end of the complexity scale is biological molecules, which have yet to find a clear application in optical or electronic systems.

Complex Molecules

 

GPEC's materials and process research has focused almost exclusively on small-molecule compounds, as the Company believes that these compounds have the greatest potential to deliver high-performance, low-cost and longevity – as they have in the rapidly growing active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (OLED) market. From an architectural standpoint, GPEC innovations have typically covered both polymers compounds and small-molecules.

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With over 16 years of basic-science driven innovation and patenting efforts, GPEC believes that it holds a pre-eminent position in SM-OPV™ technology and that its broad and fundamental patent portfolio will have interest for both polymer and small-molecule commercial entrants.