Bilayer organic solar cells based on imidazolin-5-one molecules

In the world´s quest for energy resources conversion of solar energy into electricity is a genuine alternative in the replacement of fossil fuels. It is in this context that organic solar cells (OSCs) become quite attractive because of lower cost, lower energy payback time, easier and cost-effective fabrication process and potential of large area processing on flexible substrates. This paper discusses photovoltaic cells which are based on derivatives of the luminophore of green fluorescent protein (GFP) 4-hydroxybenzylidene imidazolin-5-one; they are particularly attractive due their biodegradable nature. Also, the electrical and optical properties of the molecules can be modulated to absorb in any desired frequency range by engineering the substituents attached to the imidazolin-5-one ring.