Organic Photovoltaic Cells: From Performance Improvement to Manufacturing Processes

Abstract

Organic photovoltaics (OPVs) have been pursued as a next generation power source due to their light weight, thin, flexible, and simple fabrication advantages. Improvements in OPV efficiency have attracted great attention in the past decade. Because the functional layers in OPVs can be dissolved in common solvents, they can be manufactured by eco-friendly and scalable printing or coating technologies. In this review article, the focus is on recent efforts to control nanomorphologies of photoactive layer and discussion of various solution-processed charge transport and extraction materials, to maximize the performance of OPV cells. Next, recent works on printing and coating technologies for OPVs to realize solution processing are reviewed. The review concludes with a discussion of recent advances in the development of non-traditional lamination and transfer method towards highly efficient and fully solution-processed OPV.

Solubilized 5,6-bis(octyloxy)benzoxadiazole as a versatile acceptor block for designing novel (-X-DADAD-)n and (-X-DADADAD-)n electron donor copolymers for bulk heterojunction organic solar cells

“…The mixture was heated at reflux for 24 h and then cooled to the room temperature. The target compounds 2 (0.428 g, 33%) and 4 (0.114 g, 12%) were separated from the 5,6-bis(octyloxy)-4,7-di (thiophene-2-yl)benzo [2,1,3]oxadiazole side product (yield 1.02 g, 52%) by column chromatography on SiO 2 (light petroleum-toluene as eluent) and further purified by preparative GPC. …”

“…In the present work we have designed and explored the first (-X-DADAD-) n copolymers bearing 5,6-bis(octyloxy)-benzo[c] [2,1,3]oxadiazole as acceptor moieties. The application of the so- …”

“…for chemical industry. Among different types of photovoltaic technologies organic solar cells attracted much attention because of easy processing, low cost, lightweight, flexibility and possibility of fine-tuning of electronic properties of organic photoactive materials [1,2]. Organic solar cells based on polymer-fullerene blends are now reaching the efficiencies up to 10% due to development of novel materials and optimization of the device architectures [3][4][5][6].…”

Light-induced electron spin resonance as a probe for charge separation and recombination in hybrid donor:acceptor systems

“…Key features of this approach are the possibility to deposit the active layer by printing technologies and the compatibility with roll-to-roll production [1][2][3]. Deposition of the absorber layer from a liquid medium is possible in different types of photovoltaic devices, among them organic bulk heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells [4][5][6][7], hybrid BHJ solar cells [8][9][10][11], quantum dot solar cells [11][12][13], and perovskite solar cells [14][15][16].…”

Steering the Properties of MoOx Hole Transporting Layers in OPVs and OLEDs: Interface Morphology vs. Electronic Structure

“…The possibility of obtaining portable, light-weight, flexible devices produced in a cheap, scalable, and relatively eco-friendly way makes it a complementary technology next to silicon-based solar cells [1] and inorganic electro-luminescent materials [2,3]. In order to improve the efficiency of OPVs and OLEDs, research focuses on various aspects such as the discovery and optimization of new active materials [4,5,6], alternative device architectures [7], and progress in device fabrication in terms of efficiency, scalability, and simplicity (including solution processing) [8,9].…”