Shining Light on Organic Solar Cells

Abstract

Organic solar cells have come a long way from fundamental considerations of charge carrier dynamics in organic semiconductors to devices with laboratory power conversion efficiencies exceeding 17% and first power harvesting installations. Despite this story of success, these days, the scientific community witnesses a shift of research effort to other solar concepts, leaving behind a high‐potential solar technology with better applicability forecasts than ever before. Very compelling reasons still exist why organic solar cells can become the solar technology of the future that offers design versatility and enables unprecedented applications while offering the lowest energy payback times and ecologic sustainability. This perspective article highlights why organic solar cells remain a research field of the highest socioeconomic relevance, which challenges remain to be overcome in the future, and how organic solar cells can make a difference in the future energy landscape.

Unraveling the Mystery of Ternary Organic Solar Cells: A Review on the Influence of Third Component on Structure–Morphology–Performance Relationships

“…Based on the equation, it is clear that k nr holds an exponentially decaying function with ΔE CT-G , in which larger ΔE CT-G favors reduced recombination rates. The rate of nonradiative recombination is closely linked to the nonradiative voltage loss (ΔV nr ), given by the following relation [141] ΔV nr ¼ k B T q ln 1 EQE EL (9) where the external quantum efficiency electroluminescence, EQE EL , can be linked to the nonradiative and radiative (k r ) recombination rate via [141] EQE EL ¼ p e k r k nr þ p e k r (10) where p e is the probability for a photon generated by radiative recombination to escape from the device. Radiative recombination refers to the recombination of an electron from the LE state to a hole at the G state, which generates a photon, functioning as a light-emitting diode (LED).…”

“…[ 4,5 ] Furthermore, these solar cells are generally more versatile compared with ci‐Si cells, due to them being lightweight, printable, [ 6–8 ] semitransparent, and flexible. [ 9–11 ] These characteristics allow for more versatile applications, for example, building‐integrated photovoltaics (BIPV). [ 8,12,13 ]…”

“…[4,5] Furthermore, these solar cells are generally more versatile compared with ci-Si cells, due to them being lightweight, printable, [6][7][8] semitransparent, and flexible. [9][10][11] These characteristics allow for more versatile applications, for example, building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV). [8,12,13] OSCs can be traced back to their humble origins by early works [14][15][16] of planar OSCs, typically consisting of a conjugated polymer sandwiched between two electrodes.…”

Revisiting Solvent Additives for the Fabrication of Polymer:Fullerene Solar Cells: Exploring a Series of Benzaldehydes

“…The unique features of organic solar cells, such as semitransparency, freedom in color and design, mechanical flexibility and rollto-roll printability on large scale, are important enablers for novel solar energy applications such as integration into windows or façade elements, mobile applications or self-powered sensors for the internet of things. [1][2][3][4] Over the past decade, tremendous efforts on both the synthesis of novel light-harvesting semiconductors and the optimization of deposition processes have steadily increased the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of solutionprocessed polymer solar cells, recently exceeding 17%. [5][6][7][8] The light-harvesting bulk heterojunctions (BHJs) in organic solar cells comprise blends of (at least) two semiconductors, an electron donor and an electron acceptor.…”

Nanoporous Polymer Reflectors for Organic Solar Cells

“…Among the emerging photovoltaic technologies, organic solar cells (OSCs) stand out with their design flexibility in color and shape, their lightweight, their mechanical flexibility, their potential sustainability all along the value chain, and their optional semitransparency. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7] Recently, power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of OSCs have surpassed 18%, enabled by the advent of nonfullerene acceptors, by tuning of the microstructure of the bulk-heterojunction, by tailoring the spectral absorption, and by smart device design. [8] Printing technologies, including inkjet printing, doctor blading, and roll-to-roll printing, are widely considered toward large-scale fabrication and commercialization of OSCs.…”