Morphology analysis of near IR sensitized polymer/fullerene organic solar cells by implementing low bandgap heteroanalogue C-/Si-PCPDTBT

Ameri, Tayebeh; Khoram, Parisa; Heumüller, Thomas; Baran, Derya; Machui, Florian; Troeger, Anna; Sgobba, Vito; Guldi, Dirk M.; Halik, Marcus; Rathgeber, Silke; Scherf, Ullrich; Brabec, Christoph J.

doi:10.1039/c4ta04070h

Cited by 69 publications

(57 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…As such, the V oc of these devices are generally smaller than the V oc of counterpart solar cells comprising only the parent donor-acceptor pair. [ 13,14,18,[23][24][25][26] With a series of papers, Thompson and co-workers [ 11,12,19,[27][28][29][30] demonstrated that the V oc of ternary-blend solar cells need not be pinned by the smallest energy level difference of the constituents, as described above. In fact, with proper selection of materials combination for ternary-blend active layers, the V oc of these solar cells can be continuously tuned with composition between those derived from the HOMO energy levels of the individual donors.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Structural Origins for Tunable Open‐Circuit Voltage in Ternary‐Blend Organic Solar Cells

Khlyabich

Rudenko

Thompson

et al. 2015

Adv Funct Materials

124

128

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Organic BHJ solar cells comprising ternary-blend absorbing layers, based either on two donors and one acceptor or one donor and two acceptors, provide an attractive and effective pathway to increase effi ciencies while preserving processing simplicity. [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] In early studies, the effi ciency enhancement of such solar cells was attributed to an increase in the spectral response upon the introduction of an additional donor having an absorption profi le that is complementary to that of the parent donor-acceptor pair, effectively increasing the number of harvested photons and ultimately the photocurrent. [ 11,13,16,18 ] Until recently, the opencircuit voltage ( V oc ) of such devices was thought to be pinned by the difference in the energy levels of the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) of the acceptor and the higher of the two highest occupied molecular orbitals (HOMO) in active layers comprising an acceptor and two donors. [ 23 ] Given that the third component that is introduced often has a smaller bandgap than the parent donor in order extend the spectral response of the existing active layer, it almost always has a higher lying HOMO compared to the parent donor. As such, the V oc of these devices are generally smaller than the V oc of counterpart solar cells comprising only the parent donor-acceptor pair. [ 13,14,18,[23][24][25][26] With a series of papers, Thompson and co-workers [ 11,12,19,[27][28][29][30] demonstrated that the V oc of ternary-blend solar cells need not be pinned by the smallest energy level difference of the constituents, as described above. In fact, with proper selection of materials combination for ternary-blend active layers, the V oc of these solar cells can be continuously tuned with composition between those derived from the HOMO energy levels of the individual donors. As such, the increase in short-circuit current densities ( J sc ) with the introduction of a third constituent in these solar cells need not come at the expense of V oc 's that are pinned to the smallest energy level difference of the constituents. By breaking this paradigm, Thompson and co-workers showed that ternary-blend solar cells with effi ciencies exceeding parent binary-blend solar cells while maintaining high fi ll factor (FF) can be made across the blend composition while maintaining the simplicity of processing. Since this discovery, numerous other materials combinations have demonstrated tunable V oc in devices having ternary-blend BHJs. [ 11,17,27,[31][32][33][34] Equally many other materials combinations have resulted in ternary-blend solar cells whose V oc is pinned to the smallest

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mentioning

confidence: 99%

Structural Origins for Tunable Open‐Circuit Voltage in Ternary‐Blend Organic Solar Cells

Khlyabich

Rudenko

Thompson

et al. 2015

Adv Funct Materials

124

128

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“…This approach has been intensively studied and is also feasible in tandem devices. [29][30][31][32] The module costs of the upscaling and the industrial scenario are dependent on further parameters, especially the electrode costs. Since these costs are especially addressed in the upscaling and industrial model no module costs are mentioned for these scenarios in Table 2.…”

Section: Cost Analysis For Single and Tandem Modules -State Of The Armentioning

confidence: 99%

Cost analysis of roll-to-roll fabricated ITO free single and tandem organic solar modules based on data from manufacture

Machui

Hösel

et al. 2014

Energy Environ. Sci.

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177

155

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We present a cost analysis based on state of the art printing and coating processes to fully encapsulated, flexible ITO-and vacuum-free polymer solar cell modules. Manufacturing data for both single junctions and tandem junctions are presented and analyzed. Within this calculation the most expensive layers and processing steps are identified. Based on large roll-to-roll coating experiments the exact material consumptions were determined. In addition to the data for the pilot scale experiment presented here, projections to medium and large scale scenarios serve as a guide to achieve cost targets of 5 Vct per W p in a detailed material and cost analysis. These scenarios include the replacement of cost intensive layers, as well as process optimization steps. Furthermore, the cost structures for single and tandem devices are listed in detail and discussed. In an optimized model the material costs drop below 10 V per m 2 which proves that OPV is a competitive alternative to established power generation technologies. Broader contextAmong the emerging solar cell technologies organic photovoltaics (OPVs) have gained enormous attraction due to their various advantages in applications, i.e. light weight, semitransparency, tunable band gaps and colors. The decisive criteria for a market entrance of a new renewable technology to become a successful competitor are the costs and cost potential which are inuenced by their processing technique. Currently processing of photovoltaic devices is mainly done in non-continuous batch-to-batch processes at elevated temperatures. OPVs offer the advantage of high throughputs due to their compatibility to continuous rollto-roll coating techniques. This leads to the potential to dramatically reduce the processing costs in comparison to mature photovoltaic technologies. One of the drawbacks of OPVs is their lower device efficiency in comparison to inorganic materials. The use of tandem devices offers the potential to overcome the limiting device efficiency of OPVs which requires the printing of several additional layers. Based on state of the art processing costs the exact material consumptions for single and tandem devices were determined and compared. We demonstrate that OPV is a competitive energy technology which is not only compatible with inorganic PV, but also with other energy technologies such as wind, hydro and biomass.

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“…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 affinity (EA) than A1; 23,27-29 however, very few examples of two-acceptor ternary blend devices could surpass the overall efficiency of their respective binary blends.…”

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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Morphology analysis of near IR sensitized polymer/fullerene organic solar cells by implementing low bandgap heteroanalogue C-/Si-PCPDTBT

Cited by 69 publications

References 42 publications

Structural Origins for Tunable Open‐Circuit Voltage in Ternary‐Blend Organic Solar Cells

Structural Origins for Tunable Open‐Circuit Voltage in Ternary‐Blend Organic Solar Cells

Cost analysis of roll-to-roll fabricated ITO free single and tandem organic solar modules based on data from manufacture

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

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