Outdoor performance of organic photovoltaics at two different locations: A comparison of degradation and the effect of condensation

Abstract

Tests on organic photovoltaics (OPV) mini modules, fabricated through a R2R process, in air and without hazardous solvents have been conducted in order to compare their outdoor performance, in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, and Bangor, North Wales, and assess the impact of the latitude and climate of the installation on the power generation and modules' lifetime. The test showed different profiles of degradation for each region and formulation, with a surprisingly faster degradation in Bangor. One of the possible sources of the increased degradation is the greater levels of condensation observed in Bangor. To verify the impact of condensation on the module stability, indoor tests have been conducted to relate the dew point depression to module degradation times. The results show that condensation is a significant stress factor in OPV and should be considered more prominently in reliability studies.

Outdoor Performance of Organic Photovoltaics: Comparative Analysis

“…No direct comparison of these results with the one available in literature could be performed. The average conversion efficiency was similar to those found in [17,18] at the beginning of the test campaigns and similar to that found in [19].…”

“…Furthermore, in [16], the examination of flexible, semi-transparent, organic photovoltaic modules in an outdoor testing environment to study degradation in a hot, arid climate was presented, showing a large reduction in the power conversion efficiency. In [17], tests on OPV minimodules in air and without hazardous solvents were conducted to compare their outdoor performance, showing that condensation is a significant stress factor in OPVs and should be considered more prominently in reliability studies.…”

“…Long-term reliability as well as the behavior of OPV modules in real environments remain topics that need further investigation and analysis. In addition, most of the works dealing with the performances of OPV modules as a function of the irradiance spectrum and temperature in outdoor conditions are based on single prototypes of OPV cells or small-scale OPV module prototypes [17,18], or experimental campaigns are limited to short observational periods or specific environmental conditions [19].…”

Review of technology specific degradation in crystalline silicon, cadmium telluride, copper indium gallium selenide, dye sensitised, organic and perovskite solar cells in photovoltaic modules: Understanding how reliability improvements in mature technologies can enhance emerging technologies

“…By testing emerging PVs in outdoor conditions, multiple stress factors can be applied, and outdoor testing remains one of the best approaches to review stability as the PVs are subjected to multiple stress factors 151,152 including tests that aren't conducted in ISOS consensus standards such as the impact of condensation. 153 is tyically an organic alkyl ammonium cation or Cs, B is a metal e.g., Pb, Sn and X is a halide anion. 158 MHPs are relatively new to the PV community and entered in 2009 as a promising material.…”

“…One noticeable trait in the OPV community (as with the DSC and MHP ones) is that outdoor monitoring has been a sparingly adopted approach for testing the stability. By testing emerging PVs in outdoor conditions, multiple stress factors can be applied, and outdoor testing remains one of the best approaches to review stability as the PVs are subjected to multiple stress factors 151,152 including tests that aren't conducted in ISOS consensus standards such as the impact of condensation 153 . One of earliest reports on outdoor testing of OPVs was conducted by Katz et al in 2007 154 .…”