Air-processed polymer tandem solar cells with power conversion efficiency exceeding 10%

Li, Ning; Brabec, Christoph J.

doi:10.1039/c5ee02145f

Cited by 164 publications

(139 citation statements)

References 50 publications

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“…[1][2][3][4][5] However, the commercialization of OPV requires the availability of inexpensive materials in large quantities such as poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT). P3HT is readily scalable via flow or micro-reactor synthesis, even using 'green' solvents, whilst retaining a high degree of control over molecular weight and regioregularity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reducing the efficiency–stability–cost gap of organic photovoltaics with highly efficient and stable small molecule acceptor ternary solar cells

et al. 2016

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Technological deployment of organic photovoltaic modules requires improvements in device light-conversion efficiency and stability while keeping material costs low. Here we demonstrate highly efficient and stable solar cells using a ternary approach, wherein two non-fullerene acceptors are combined with both a scalable and affordable donor polymer, poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT), and a high efficiency, low band-gap polymer in a single-layer bulk-heterojunction devices. The addition of a strongly absorbing small molecule acceptor into a P3HT-based non-fullerene blend increases the device efficiency up to 7.7 ± 0.1% without any solvent additives. The improvement is assigned to changes in microstructure that reduces charge recombination and increases the photovoltage, and to improved light harvesting across the visible region. The stability of P3HT-based devices in ambient conditions is also significantly improved relative to polymer:fullerene devices. Combined with a low band gap donor polymer (PBDTTT-EFT, also known as PCE10), the two mixed acceptors also lead to solar cells with 11.0 ± 0.4% efficiency and a high open-circuit voltage of 1.03 ± 0.01V.Currently, the materials used in organic photovoltaics (OPV) are dominated by fullerene acceptors in combination with low band gap donor polymers which typically require complex and multi-step syntheses. [1][2][3][4][5] However, the commercialization of OPV requires the availability of inexpensive materials in large quantities such as poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT). P3HT is readily scalable via flow or micro-reactor synthesis, even using 'green' solvents, whilst retaining a high degree of control over molecular weight and regioregularity. 6 The P3HT:60PCBM blend exhibits one of the most robust microstructures within OPV. [7][8][9] However, it has a limited open-circuit voltage (Voc) and short-circuit current (Jsc) in photovoltaic devices. 10 We have recently shown that solar cells using an alternative small molecule non-fullerene acceptor (NFA), IDTBR, when mixed with P3HT, can achieve power conversion efficiencies of up to 6.4%. 11 These results have revived interest in the use of P3HT for high performing devices and non-fullerene acceptors. [12][13][14][15][16][17][18] The combination of stability, cost and performance for P3HT:NFA devices, make them a compelling choice for commercialization of OPV compared to devices using fullerenes, for which the high costs and energy involved are prohibitive for large scale production.Recently, multi-component heterojunctions (ternary or more) have emerged as a promising strategy to overcome the power conversion efficiency (PCE) bottleneck associated with binary bulk-heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells. 3,4,[19][20][21][22][23]24 However, simultaneous increase in the Voc, Jsc and FF is a challenge in the ternary approach because of the trade-off between photocurrent and voltage. 23,25,26 Reports show ternary blends using fullerene acceptors, where the Voc is increased using a second acceptor (A2) with a higher electron affin...

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reducing the efficiency–stability–cost gap of organic photovoltaics with highly efficient and stable small molecule acceptor ternary solar cells

et al. 2016

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“…To overcome this absorption limitation, several strategies were examined. Designing new low-bandgap (co)-polymers or combining materials with different bandgaps in a tandem cell are two possibilities to harvest more photons [6,7]. Another promising approach to increase performance is adding a third component into a binary system, resulting in a ternary blend.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Insights into photovoltaic properties of ternary organic solar cells from phase diagrams

Makha

Schwaller

Strassel

et al. 2018

Science and Technology of Advanced Materials

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The efficiency of ternary organic solar cells relies on the spontaneous establishment of a nanostructured network of donor and acceptor phases during film formation. A fundamental understanding of phase composition and arrangement and correlations to photovoltaic device parameters is of utmost relevance for both science and technology. We demonstrate a general approach to understanding solar cell behavior from simple thermodynamic principles. For two ternary blend systems we construct and model phase diagrams. Details of EQE and solar cell parameters can be understood from the phase behavior. Our blend system is composed of PC70BM, PBDTTT-C and a near-infrared absorbing cyanine dye. Cyanine dyes are accompanied by counterions, which, in a first approximation, do not change the photophysical properties of the dye, but strongly influence the morphology of the ternary blend. We argue that counterion dissociation is responsible for different mixing behavior. For the dye with a hexafluorophosphate counterion a hierarchical morphology develops, the dye phase separates on a large scale from PC70BM and cannot contribute to photocurrent. Differently, a cyanine dye with a TRISPHAT counterion shows partial miscibility with PC70BM. A large two-phase region dictated by the PC70BM: PBDTTT-C mixture is present and the dye greatly contributes to the short-circuit current.

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“…A thermal annealing method has been proposed for crystalline polymerbased BHJ systems [20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36] , while an additive method is currently used for less-crystalline (amorphous) polymer-based BHJ layers [37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47] . However, it is doubtable that such an optimized BHJ layer (system) can withstand external physical loads such as pressing, hitting, rubbing and the like when it comes to the fullerene nano-domains dispersed in the polymer:fullerene mixture structures.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of Physical Load on the Stability of Organic Solar Cells with Polymer : Fullerene Bulk Heterojunction Nanolayers

Lee¹,

Kim²,

Kim³

2016

Current Photovoltaic Research

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ABSTRACT:We report the effect of physical load on the stability of organic solar cells under physical loads. The active layers in organic solar cells were fabricated with bulk heterojunction films (BHJ) films of poly (3-hexylthiophene) and phenyl-C61-butyric methyl ester. The loading time was varied up to 60 s by keeping the physical load constant. Results showed that the open circuit voltage was not influenced by the physical load but other solar cell parameters were sensitive to the loading time. The fill factor was very slightly increased at 15 s, while short circuit current density was well kept for 30 s. The power conversion efficiency was reasonably maintained for 45 s but became significantly decreased by the continuous loading for 60 s.

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Air-processed polymer tandem solar cells with power conversion efficiency exceeding 10%

Cited by 164 publications

References 50 publications

Reducing the efficiency–stability–cost gap of organic photovoltaics with highly efficient and stable small molecule acceptor ternary solar cells

Reducing the efficiency–stability–cost gap of organic photovoltaics with highly efficient and stable small molecule acceptor ternary solar cells

Insights into photovoltaic properties of ternary organic solar cells from phase diagrams

Influence of Physical Load on the Stability of Organic Solar Cells with Polymer : Fullerene Bulk Heterojunction Nanolayers

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