London, England – July 02, 2008 – G24 Innovations (G24i) has won the Premier Product Award at the prestigious Business Commitment to the Environment (BCE) Environmental Leadership Awards. The Rt. Hon Pat McFadden, Minister of State for Employment Relations, presented the solar pioneer with the award for its next generation Dye-Sensitized Thin Film technology at a ceremony at London’s Lincoln Centre.

Applications

• A simple, convenient means of keeping these devices powered, even when there is no opportunity to recharge them through the grid.
• Power for mobile and LED lighting systems.
• Lightweight portable power systems for tents or fixed structures.
• Water purification, radios, refrigerators and cooling
• New, building-integrated products, awnings, shades and windows that will enable businesses to cut the day-to-day energy use of their offices and other facilities.
• Solar powered systems that yield added security for uninterruptible power supplies or provide remote power for sensors and security surveillance systems.
• Signage, billboards and other forms of advertising that have their own self-contained, renewable power sources.
• Intelligent garments that can charge batteries silently and in low light or artificial light, including high-visibility jackets, jackets with GPS, hats, jackets and bags with lights, and jackets with back-up power.
• Flexible charging systems for sensors, surveillance, satellite telephones, emergency lighting, signage and other critical systems used by police officers and other first responders.
• Flexible alternative power systems built into textiles that can be manufactured in a variety of patterns and used in tents, awnings and a variety of other portable structures.
• On-vehicle power supply and charging capabilities for trailers, motor homes and mobile communication cent

About G24i

G24 Innovations (G24i), a UK based company, is the world’s first to commercially manufacture next generation Dye-Sensitized Thin Film solar cells, an alternative to traditional silicon solar cells.

Dye-Sensitized Thin Film solar cells are unique in that they are extremely lightweight, durable, and produce electricity in low-light and indoor conditions. As a result, G24i’s advanced solar cells are perfect for powering mobile electronic devices such as mobile telephones, cameras, and portable LED lighting systems.

On a larger scale, G24i’s flexible thin film integrates effectively into clothing, tents, electronic advertising displays, and works well for indoor building integrated photovoltaic systems where local regulation requires on site generation or significant energy efficiency measures.

G24i’s proprietary high speed roll-to-roll manufacturing process allows for large volume production at our 23 acre, 187,000 square foot facility. Further information at: www.g24i.com.

How it Works

G24i’s advanced DYE SENSITIZED THIN FILM works on a very different principle than traditional polycrystalline where the absorption of light and the separation of charge carriers do not take place in the same material. The cell consists of two conducting electrodes (usually in the shape of small plates) in a sandwich configuration with a redox electrolyte separating the two. On one of the electrodes a compact, but very porous layer of TiO2 is constructed. On the particles of TiO2 a dye is absorbed.

When light falls onto the dye sensitized solar cell it is absorbed by the dye. The electrons that are excited, due to the extra energy the light provides, can escape from the dye and into the TiO2 and diffuse through the TiO2 to the electrode. They are eventually returned to the dye through the electrolyte.

The dye sensitized cell is made from lower cost materials than the conventional type with silicon wafers. TiO2 is a very common material (also used in toothpaste and sun lotion) and the dye can be an organic type like the colouring you find in blackberries.

Dye sentisitized solar cells are photoelectrochemical cells that use photo-sensitization of wide-band-gap mesoporous oxide semiconductors. These cells were invented by Michael Graetzel et al.1) in 1988 and are also known as "Graetzel cells".

These cells are extremely promising because they are made of low-cost materials and do not need elaborate apparatus to manufacture. The cells have a simple structure that consists of two electrodes and an iodide-containing electrolyte. One electrode is dye-absorbed highly porous nanocrystalline titanium dioxide (nc-TiO2) deposited on a transparent electrically conducting substrate. The other is a transparent electrically conducting substrate only. The cells have been compared to photosynthesis because they use the redox reaction of the electrolyte. The energy conversion efficiency of the cells has not yet reached the level of silicon solar cells. The current energy conversion efficiency is about 10%, as was reported by Graetzel et al.

It is thought that the energy efficiency can rise beyond the Shockley-Queisser limit of 32%.