Konarka Technologies has announced that Newport has certified Konarka's next generation organic solar cells as demonstrating 9% single-junction efficiency. These recent advances continue to be based upon Konarka's inverted cell architecture, the company's intellectual property protected under issued patents.

Located in Irvine, California, the Newport Technology and Applications Center's Photovoltaic (TAC-PV) Lab is accredited by the American Association for Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA).

"With this recent certification, Konarka makes continual progress in the solar cell efficiency of Power Plastic suitable for our large scale roll-to-roll processing plant on inexpensive plastic films," commented Howard Berke, chairman, CEO and co-founder of Konarka.

"For architects, design engineers and builders integrating solar technology into curtain walls, windows, transit structures, automobiles with energy-harvesting rooftops, consumer electronics and more, Konarka is dedicated to increasing the efficiency and lowering the cost of manufacturing our design-friendly solar films for more cost-effective, energy-harvesting applications.

"We are also quite enthused that this result was achieved with our newest proprietary blue-grey polymer system which is in highest demand by our customers in several market segments."

Thin, lightweight, transparent and flexible, Konarka's Power Plastic solar films are ideally suited for integration into various building materials, including glass, steel, plastics, composites and fabrics, offering creative architects and product designers superior, widespread latitude with several color and transparency options across a wide range of sizes enabled by Konarka's roll-to-roll continuous manufacturing process.