The Benefit of Organic Solar Cells

Hannah Bürckstümmer is a Strategic Marketing Manager who delivers her vision of an energy-efficient future during a TED talk on sustainability. The speaker undertakes a curious and engaging approach during her keynote by wearing two different shoes on the stage — one small and elegant, the other one brute and oversized. She engages the audience with this by symbolizing a two-fold reality— one that has a sustainable footprint and the other that suffers from "excessive exploitation." By calling attention to global warming, rising sea levels, melting glaciers and more, Hannah Bürckstümmer reveals which shoe we collectively wear.

Stressing that urban architecture is reluctant to install photovoltaics on buildings due to the non-flexibility of the material, its cost, as well as its problematic aesthetic, the speaker showcases a way to reduce energy consumption during the talk on sustainability. As buildings are estimated to consume about 40% of the total energy emissions, figuring out a way to install solar technology on urban buildings is extremely important.

As a result, Hannah Bürckstümmer's talk on sustainability focuses on displaying a technological advancement — printable solar cells. The marketing manager calls attention to the organic photovoltaics, of which she has a physical sample of. It consists of an amalgamation of a polymer at different repeating units and fullerene. When combined, these two components can form ink which can be reproduced, using printing techniques like "slot-die coating in a continuous roll-to-roll process on flexible substrates." The product is an active layer that can absorb the sun's energy, be cost-effective, very material efficient, bendable, semi-transparent and minimalist in design.