Advanced polymer encapsulates for photovoltaic devices − A review

Gaddam, Sashivinay Kumar; Pothu, Ramyakrishna; Boddula, Rajender

doi:10.1016/j.jmat.2021.04.004

Cited by 31 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…[8][9][10] Moisture and oxygen are the main environmental degradation factors, and researchers have been trying to fix them by using a proper encapsulation process. [11][12][13][14] Besides this, light-induced degradation is still a challenge for OSCs, and it can break the long-term stability and efficiency of the devices. [15,16] The photodegradation in OSCs, particularly UV-induced, may affect a multitude of layers rather than just a photoactive layer and could harm the charge transport layer, and results in poor stability of OSCs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Down‐conversion materials for organic solar cells: Progress, challenges, and perspectives

et al. 2022

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Organic solar cells (OSCs) in terms of power conversion efficiency (PCE) and operational lifetime have made remarkable progress during the last decade by improving the active layer materials and introducing new interlayers. The newly developed wide bandgap organic donor and low bandgap acceptor molecules covered the absorption from the visible to the near-infrared region. Whereas the incident high energy region (UV) is not in favor of OSCs. Its absorption causes thermalization losses and photoinduced degradation, which hinders the PCE and lifetime of OSCs. Recently, lanthanide and non-lanthanide-based down-conversion (DC) materials have been introduced, which can effectively convert the high-energy photons (UV) to low-energy photons (visible) and resolve the spectral mismatch losses that limit the absorption of OSCs in high energy incident spectrum. Furthermore, the DC materials also protect the OSCs from UV-induced degradation. The DC materials were also proposed to cross the Shockley-Queisser efficiency limit of the solar cell. In this review, the need for DC materials and their processing method for OSCs have been thoroughly discussed. However, the main emphasis has been given to developing lanthanides and non-lanthanides-based DC materials for OSCs, their applications, and their impact on photovoltaic device performance, stability, and future perspectives.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Down‐conversion materials for organic solar cells: Progress, challenges, and perspectives

et al. 2022

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“…Improved lamination uniformity on larger substrates would likely enable better throughconduction yield, reducing the number of Ag-PMMA spheres needed, and alternative mixing methods may assist with breaking up sphere agglomeration that leads to high standard deviation and poor conduction in the TCE sheets. While EVA is currently the most utilized encapsulant in the PV industry, [36,40,41] it has a fairly high water vapor transmission rate [36,37] compared to some emerging encapsulants such as thermoplastic silicone elastomers, and is not long-term acid stable. [42] Future work ChemElectroChem could entail replacing the EVA matrix with a different encapsulant material that is more stable in the desired electrochemical conditions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transparent Conductive Encapsulants for Photoelectrochemical Applications

et al. 2023

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Utilizing sunlight to directly perform photoelectrochemical reactions is a promising route to renewable, net carbon‐neutral fuels. However, a common problem with solar fuel production is semiconductor degradation in aqueous environments. An ideal protection layer should (1) prevent solution from reaching the semiconductor, (2) maintain charge transfer to and from solution, and (3) be transparent to light above the semiconductor band gap. While there have been substantial advances toward layers that meet these requirements, they are not easily adapted to new surfaces or new reactions, which can make protection difficult for newly developed photoabsorbers and (photo)electrochemical reaction pairings. In this work, we demonstrate the use of transparent conductive encapsulants (TCEs) to meet these requirements while also allowing for photoelectrode‐ and reaction‐agnostic adaptability. TCEs are composed of an ethyl‐vinyl acetate matrix with embedded conductive metal‐coated microspheres that can be laminated to semiconductors. First, the electrochemical behavior of TCE‐coated electrodes for the reduction of methyl viologen is characterized, demonstrating through‐TCE electrical conduction. Then, photoelectrochemical measurements on TCE‐protected semiconductors demonstrate the flexibility of this protection scheme. Finally, long‐term photoelectrochemical measurements probe the efficacy of TCEs as protection layers. These findings demonstrate the potential of TCEs as adaptable protection layers in various photoelectrochemical applications.

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“…The encapsulant in a PV module provides protection from the environment, structural stability, electrical insulation and resistance to UV and thermal degradation. [242][243][244][245][246] The most successful material employed for commercial Si-PV encapsulation is ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA), representing B80% of the current market, 245 providing high transmittance, good electrical and chemical resistance, easy processability, low cost and it has been used commercially for 420 years. 242,243,245 However, degradation of EVA generates acetic acid that can induce corrosion in the PV system.…”

Section: Encapsulantsmentioning

confidence: 99%