Fabrication of organic solar array for applications in microelectromechanical systems

Abstract

We have developed an innovative way to fabricate organic solar arrays for application in dc power supplies for electrostatic microelectromechanical systems devices. A solar array with 20 miniature cells interconnected in series was fabricated and characterized. Photolithography was used to isolate the individual cells and output contacts of the array, whereas the thermal-vacuum deposition is employed to make the series connections of the array. With 1mm2 for single cell and a total device area of 2.2cm2, the organic solar array based on bulk heterojunction structure of π-conjugated polymers and C60 derivative [6,6]-phenyl C61 butyric acid methyl ester produced an open-circuit voltage of 7.8V and a short-circuit current of 55μA under simulated air mass (AM) 1.5 illumination with an intensity of 132mW/cm2. The procedure described here has the full potential for use in future fabrication of microarray with the size as small as 0.01mm2.

High voltage polymer solar cell patterned with photolithography

“…10 The highest PCE of 0.44% was achieved after 16 min of annealing, which is significantly better than previously reported values for high-voltage polymer cells. 2,6 Further annealing decreased the PCE to 0.31%, but V OC increased steadily to reach 89.6 volts after 80 min. This increase in V OC with thermal annealing is reproducible and had been observed for cells with different thicknesses of the Al cathode.…”

“…These solar cells were fabricated from amorphous silicon, and achieved voltages above 100 volts by connecting miniaturized cells in series. 1 Recently, a high-voltage polymer solar cell fabricated from a blend of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and [6,6]-phenyl-C 61 butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) has been demonstrated by Niggemann et al 2 The P3HT:PCBM system represent one of the most promising material sets for organic solar cells, achieving efficiencies of around 5%. 3 Application of organic semiconductors for high-voltage solar cells has the advantage of potential low-cost roll-to-roll fabrication.…”

“…Lewis et al demonstrated another approach that utilized shadow masks to pattern top aluminum electrodes in series. 6 In this way, they were able to fabricate devices in the standard vertical configuration, which achieved a voltage of 7.8 volts and a power conversion efficiency of 0.06% for an array of 18 P3HT:PCBM cells. 6 However, it is difficult to achieve small features with shadow masking, and mask alignment is also a challenge.…”

Dynamic Behavior of Magnetically Affected Rod-Like Nanostructures with Multiple Defects via Nonlocal-Integral/Differential-Based Models

“…They are commonly created by chemical synthesis, including cation exchange [ 1 , 2 , 3 ] and hydrothermal method [ 4 , 5 ]. Nanorods would have great applications in display technologies [ 6 , 7 ], micro-electro-mechanical systems [ 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 ], cancer therapy [ 12 , 13 ], energy harvesting [ 14 , 15 ], light-emitting devices [ 16 , 17 ], and solar cells [ 18 , 19 , 20 ]. Any defect in nanorods during their synthesis or after that may limit their applications.…”

Serially Connected Micro Amorphous Silicon Solar Cells for Compact High-Voltage Sources

“…Various fabrication approaches for producing serially interconnected organic solar cells have been demonstrated. Lewis et al demonstrated a high-voltage organic solar array with miniature cells interconnected in series [8]. Top electrodes were deposited and patterned through a shadow mask for making the series connections of the array.…”