Organic Photovoltaic Solar Panels (OPV) Applied to a Tubelike Bus Station

Organic solar panels (OPV) are an alternative to silicon (Si)-based solar panels as they can be applied to flexible substrates such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Although the efficiency of organic solar panels is lower than that of Si-based ones, their potential for use in urban furniture is big because of their light weight and for the fact that they can be applied to non-even surfaces. In this paper, we report the characteristics of a polymer-fullerene organic photovoltaic modules and their use on the metal roof of a tubular bus station, a typical construction from the city of Curitiba. The solar panels installed were commercial modules obtained by roll-to-roll printing at large area that are nowadays are available to the market. We have used 28 panels, and based on that, we develop a low-cost electrical project for the bus station. We investigate the current voltage characteristics of the selected panels and discuss their efficiency over half year project. The physico-chemical characterization of the OPV films were obtained by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy endorsing the high-quality blend film obtained by slot die printing used in our project.