We present a novel ternary organic solar cell with an uncommonly thick active layer (∼300 nm), featuring thickness invariant charge carrier recombination and delivering 11% power conversion efficiency (PCE).

One of the biggest challenges for the commercialization of polymer‐based and other printed photovoltaic (PV) technologies is to establish reliable up‐scaling processes that minimize the efficiency losses occurring during the transition from record laboratory cells to roll‐to‐roll (R2R) printed PV modules. This article reviews the latest advances in reducing the efficiency gap between record solar cells and large‐area organic PV modules. The major loss sources are identified for the most popular cell architectures and categorized into optical, electrical, and processing‐related contributions. Their relative shares in the overall efficiency drop are quantified through optical and electrical simulations. Further potential sources of efficiency loss, such as the replacement of halogenated by green solvents for active layer processing, are also addressed. Finally, the effect of reduced efficiency gaps on the production costs of R2R printed modules is discussed, demonstrating that values as low as € 0.5 Wp−1 (the nominal power of a solar module/cell) can be achieved.

Flexible roll-coated and rigid organic PV modules, solution processed on a large area, are reported with efficiencies of 4.2% and 5.3%, respectively.

No abstract

Photovoltaic devices based on organic semiconductors (OPVs) hold great promise as a cost-effective renewable energy platform because they can be processed from solution and deposited on flexible plastics using roll-to-roll processing. Despite important progress and reported power conversion efficiencies of more than 10% the rather limited stability of this type of devices raises concerns towards future commercialization. The tandem concept allows for both absorbing a broader range of the solar spectrum and reducing thermalization losses. We designed an organic tandem solar cell with an inverted device geometry comprising environmentally stable active and charge-selecting layers. Under continuous white light irradiation, we demonstrate an extrapolated, operating lifetime in excess of one decade. We elucidate that for the current generation of organic tandem cells one critical requirement for long operating lifetimes consists of periodic UV light treatment. These results suggest that new material approaches towards UV-resilient active and interfacial layers may enable efficient organic tandem solar cells with lifetimes competitive with traditional inorganic photovoltaics.

Organic solar cell technology bears the potential for high photovoltaic performance combined with truly low-cost, high-volume processing.Here we demonstrate organic tandem solar modules on flexible substrates fabricated by fully roll-to-roll compatible processing at temperatures <70 C. By using ultrafast laser patterning we considerably reduced the "dead area" of the modules and achieved geometric fill factors beyond 90%. The modules revealed very low interconnection-resistance compared to the single tandem cells and exhibited a power conversion efficiency of up to 5.7%. Bending tests performed on the modules suggest high mechanical resilience for this type of device. Our findings inform concrete steps towards high efficiency photovoltaic applications on curved, foldable and moving surfaces.

No abstract

Understanding the degradation and failure mechanisms of organic photovoltaic devices is a key requirement for this technology to mature toward a reliable product. Here, an investigation on accelerated temperature and moisture long‐term stability testing (>20 000 h) of inverted and glass‐encapsulated poly(3‐hexylthiophene)/phenyl‐C61‐butyric acid methyl ester solar cells is presented. The degradation kinetics is analyzed using the Arrhenius model and the resulting activation energy for the diffusion of water is measured to be ≈43 kJ mol−1. Through comparison of electroluminescence imaging, lock‐in thermography, and photoluminescence mapping, the device performance is correlated with the loss of effective cell area and it is shown that the reaction of water at the hole extraction/active layer interface is likely to be the dominant cause for long‐term device failure. The diffusion of water through the packaged solar cell is described using classical diffusion theory. Based on an analytical solution of a simple diffusion model, the diffusion coefficient is estimated to be 4 × 10−12 m2 s−1. A shelf life of 100 000 h is anticipated at 65 °C/85% RH using a 9.3 cm wide protective adhesive rim. The findings of this study may inform strategies for predicting lifetimes of organic solar cells and modules based on local in situ tracking of moisture‐induced device performance loss using IR imaging.