Konarka Technologies, Inc., an innovator in development and commercialization of Konarka Power Plastic®, a material that converts light to energy, today announced that the National Energy Renewable Laboratory (NREL) has certified that Konarka’s organic based photovoltaic (OPV) solar cells have demonstrated a record breaking 8.3% efficiency. This is the highest performance recorded by NREL for an organic photovoltaic solar cell.

Konarka Power Plastic is a patent-protected thin film solar material that converts light to energy. The unique material is lightweight and flexible, lending itself to a wide range of applications where traditional photovoltaics are not effective.

The latest certification results are for Konarka’s large area single-junction solar cell with a surface area of 1 square centimeter. This efficiency rating far exceeds previous single-junction organic photovoltaic cell measurement on that surface area and represents the world record for OPV efficiency.