Performance enhancement of polymer solar cells using copper oxide nanoparticles

Wanninayake, Aruna P.; Gunashekar, Subhashini; Li, Shengyi; Church, Benjamin C.; Abu‐Zahra, Nidal

doi:10.1088/0268-1242/30/6/064004

Cited by 39 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…To address this, a number of studies have focused on improving the flexibility of the substrates, electrodes, and active layers. For example, flexible electrodes and substrates can be made with PEDOT:PSS and polydimethylsiloxane along with additives to improve conductivity and flexibility. − Other approaches to flexible conductors include conductive nanoparticle composites in a flexible polymeric matrix, wavy metallic electrodes, flexible glass substrates, and chemically doped conjugated polymers …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Network-Stabilized Bulk Heterojunction Organic Photovoltaics

Mok

Sun

et al. 2018

Chem. Mater.

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Bulk heterojunction organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices are multilayer organic devices that can be fabricated using low-cost and scalable solution processing methods, but current devices exhibit poor mechanical stability and degrade under deformation due to cracking and delamination. Recent approaches to improve mechanical durability involve modifying the side-chain or main-chain structures of conjugated polymers in the active layer, but in general it is difficult to simultaneously optimize electronic properties, morphology, and mechanical stability. Here, we present a general approach to improve the mechanical stability of bulk heterojunction active layers through incorporation of an internal elastic network. Network-stabilized bulk heterojunction OPVs are prepared using reactive small molecular additives that are rapidly cross-linked through thiol−ene coupling after processing the active layer. Thiol−ene reactions catalyzed by a base or initiated through short exposure to UV light produce insoluble, elastic thiol−ene networks in the active layer. We show through a combination of crack onset strain measurements, morphological analysis, and OPV device testing that network-stabilized OPVs with up to 20% thiol−ene network exhibit improved deformability with no loss in PCE, and we implement networkstabilized bulk heterojunction OPVs to produce stretchable photovoltaic devices. This work represents a simple approach for improving the mechanical durability of bulk heterojunction OPVs.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Network-Stabilized Bulk Heterojunction Organic Photovoltaics

Mok

Sun

et al. 2018

Chem. Mater.

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“…Because the exciton diffusion length in P3HT is very short (20–25 nm), most of the photogenerated excitons were harvested in the P3HT participate in geminate recombination (Figure S9e). The comparative literature presented in Table S3 with data from devices fabricated using ternary P3HT:PCBM photoactive layers containing different nanomaterials and polymers clearly shows that perovskite NC is the best candidate to improve the PCE of the widely investigated P3HT:PCBM-based devices. − …”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 96%

Charge Transport between Coaxial Polymer Nanorods and Grafted All-Inorganic Perovskite Nanocrystals for Hybrid Organic Solar Cells with Enhanced Photoconversion Efficiency

et al. 2019

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The versatile optoelectronic properties of perovskite nanocrystals (NCs) have provided a strong surge for their utilization in different classes of solar cells, with organic photovoltaic systems being no exception. In an unprecedented approach, a hybrid solar cell with CsPbBr 1.5 I 1.5 NCs strategically grafted on poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) (P3HT) nanorods (NRs) is shown to have a photoconversion efficiency of 9.72 ± 0.4%, with only 1.5 wt % NCs. The improvement is twice more than the P3HT:PCBM reference devices (4.09 ± 0.2%). The choice of NC composition is validated by density functional theory calculations, which show decent charge carrier mobility in CsPbBr 1.5 I 1.5 , besides having better stability than CsPbI 3 , making CsPbBr 1.5 I 1.5 NCs a suitable contender for hybrid device architecture. A trivial blending of the NCs in the P3HT:PCBM matrix results in their nonuniform distribution, escalating charge carrier trapping, albeit maintaining a device efficiency of 8.07 ± 0.3% with 1 wt % NCs. Uniform NC grafting is propitious over inhomogeneous blending because CsPbBr 1.5 I 1.5 NCs not only act as additional light harvesters, but their chemical grafting onto the P3HT NRs improves the charge transport by creating better charge percolation pathways. The higher crystallinity of the P3HT NRs than P3HT also helps in reducing the trap states.

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“…The measure Isc of the proposed solar cell is 0.431 mA/cm 2 . Isc can be increased by increasing the light absorption capacity of polymer which intern increases the efficiency of the solar cell [32].…”

Section: Solar Cell Characterizationmentioning

confidence: 99%