Rapid experimental optimization of organic tandem solar cells: 200 absorber layer thickness combinations on a 4×4 cm<sup>2</sup> substrate

Glaser, Konstantin; Beu, Patrick; Bahro, Daniel; Sprau, Christian; Pütz, Andreas; Colsmann, Alexander

doi:10.1039/c8ta00590g

Cited by 11 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…20 cm 2 have been demonstrated), 54,61,62 rendering them useful to explore interference phenomena in optoelectronic devices in a high-throughput manner. These gradients were accordingly employed to tailor the optimal active layer thickness in bulk heterojunction, polymer:small molecule solar cells; 63 tandem solar cells with their active layers arranged in an orthogonal fashion; 62 and to accelerate the screening of the thickness dependence on the photovoltaic performance and stability. 61 While blade coating is probably the most controllable and material-efficient technique to produce thickness gradients, other approaches have been used and are worth mentioning.…”

Section: Solution-processed High-throughput and Combinatorial Librariesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Accelerating organic solar cell material's discovery: high-throughput screening and big data

Rodríguez‐Martínez

Pascual-San-José

Campoy‐Quiles

2021

Energy Environ. Sci.

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Section: Solution-processed High-throughput and Combinatorial Librariesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Accelerating organic solar cell material's discovery: high-throughput screening and big data

Rodríguez‐Martínez

Pascual-San-José

Campoy‐Quiles

2021

Energy Environ. Sci.

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“…The optimization of the front and back cell layer thickness can be done either via opto(electrical) modeling or experimentally, by realizing multiple tandem cells with different thickness of the active layers. In 2018 Glaser et al proposed a simple method to optimize the time consuming experimental screening of the optimal thicknesses of the subcells . To do so, they manufactured tandem solar cells on a single 4 × 4 cm 2 substrate by blade coating technique.…”

Section: Tandem Solar Cellsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Advances in Solution‐Processed Multijunction Organic Solar Cells

2018

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Single-junction solar cells are principally limited in performance by two factors (Figure 1a). Electrons excited by photons with energy higher than the bandgap relax to the band edges, releasing surplus energy as heat (thermalization loss). Photons with energy lower than the bandgap are not absorbed (transmission loss). These losses can be alleviated with two or more absorber layers. The first layer should feature a wide bandgap material to reduce the thermalization loss for high-energy photons. The second layer should have a lower bandgap to absorb the low-energy photons that pass the first layer. In such configuration a tandem cell provides less thermalization and less transmission losses than each of the corresponding single-junction cells. In the detailed-balance limit, a double-junction (tandem) cell can reach an efficiency of 42% and a triple-junction cell 49%. [6] To construct a tandem cell, the two complementary absorber layers must be stacked optically and electrically ( Figure 1b). The interconnecting layer (ICL) between the two subcells must pass light and sustain the photocurrent by providing an optically transparent electrical contact for recombination of electrons and holes from the adjacent photoactive layers. The Fermi level of the hole-transporting layer (HTL) and the electron-transporting layer (ETL) that jointly form the ICL must match the relevant highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) levels in the adjacent photoactive layers (Figure 1b). The ICL should not cause voltage losses and have low resistance. The open-circuit voltage (V OC ) of the tandem solar cell is ideally the sum of the V OC s of the subcells and the photocurrent is limited by the subcell generating less current. To overcome the intrinsic performance limits of single-junction cells, the subcells should absorb complementary regions of the solar spectrum and generate equal photocurrent.In the first organic tandem solar cells, materials were thermally evaporated. Initially only metal clusters were used to interconnect the subcells, [7][8][9] later complemented by p-and n-doped organic transport layers. [10,11] In 2007, the first fully solution-processed tandem polymer solar cells were reported by Gilot et al. [12] and Kim et al. [13] In both examples the ICL featured a layer of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) as HTL, stacked on top of either a zinc oxide or a titanium oxide layer as ETL. Kim et al. achieved a PCE of 6.5%. Since then PCEs have steadily increased. Major improvements involved the use of more efficient photoactive blends that afford a high V OC relative to their optical bandgap The efficiency of organic solar cells can benefit from multijunction device architectures, in which energy losses are substantially reduced. Herein, recent developments in the field of solution-processed multijunction organic solar cells are described. Recently, various strategies have been investigated and implemented to improve the performance of these device...

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“…However, the numerical value of L D is increasing year by year. At the same time, the active layer is becoming increasingly thin to meet the needs of multilayer OSCs. In this way, the importance of the model proposed in this article will be gradually reflected.…”

Section: The Parameters Of Calculation (“Device 1” Represents the Parmentioning

confidence: 99%

Unified Model for Exciton Diffusion and Dissociation in Organic Solar Cells

Xiong

Sun

et al. 2019

Physica Rapid Research Ltrs

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The performance of organic solar cells is limited by the exciton. However, the theoretical model to study the nature of the exciton is separated into exciton diffusion and dissociation. This article proposes a unified model by combining both exciton diffusion and dissociation. This model can be reduced to the classical model of exciton diffusion or dissociation. Moreover, this model quantitatively explains meaningful experimental data of the short‐circuit current characteristic at different active layer thicknesses that cannot be fitted by the two classical models. In sum, this model is useful for researching the mechanism of the exciton in thin organic materials, which make some significant contributions to blend, multilayer, and A–D–A small‐molecule acceptor solar cells.

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Rapid experimental optimization of organic tandem solar cells: 200 absorber layer thickness combinations on a 4×4 cm² substrate

Abstract: The spatially resolved characterization of organic tandem solar cells comprising two absorber layers with orthogonal thickness gradients produces the optimum layer thickness combination.

Cited by 11 publications

References 15 publications

Accelerating organic solar cell material's discovery: high-throughput screening and big data

Accelerating organic solar cell material's discovery: high-throughput screening and big data

Advances in Solution‐Processed Multijunction Organic Solar Cells

Unified Model for Exciton Diffusion and Dissociation in Organic Solar Cells

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Rapid experimental optimization of organic tandem solar cells: 200 absorber layer thickness combinations on a 4×4 cm2 substrate

Abstract: The spatially resolved characterization of organic tandem solar cells comprising two absorber layers with orthogonal thickness gradients produces the optimum layer thickness combination.

Cited by 11 publications

References 15 publications

Accelerating organic solar cell material's discovery: high-throughput screening and big data

Accelerating organic solar cell material's discovery: high-throughput screening and big data

Advances in Solution‐Processed Multijunction Organic Solar Cells

Unified Model for Exciton Diffusion and Dissociation in Organic Solar Cells

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Product

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Rapid experimental optimization of organic tandem solar cells: 200 absorber layer thickness combinations on a 4×4 cm² substrate