Like in other areas of electronics, silicon dominates the solar field. But researchers have pinpointed other promising materials that could someday lead to cheaper and/or more efficient solar cells.

Polymers are one of those materials. They are used in organic solar cells, which many say could someday help lower the cost of solar panels and help them compete more effectively with fossil fuel power. They are also physically flexible, which means they could be incorporated into many different types of surfaces to create new types of solar energy collection.

But organic cells have a flaw: They are less efficient at converting light energy into electricity than silicon cells, and their efficiency declines as they operate. Preventing that decline in efficiency is necessary if backers want to make them a cost-effective alternative to silicon cells.

Technical University of Munich researchers published a paper in Advanced Materials (subscription required) today describing the first…