The case for organic photovoltaics

Abstract

Increasing demand for energy worldwide, driven largely by the developing world, coupled with the tremendous hidden costs associated with traditional energy sources necessitates an unprecedented fraction of the future global energy mix come from sustainable, renewable sources. The potential solar energy resource dwarfs that of all other renewable sources combined, yet only two photovoltaic technologies are known to have the potential to be scaled up to make dramatic impact on the overall energy mix: silicon and organic photovoltaics. In this paper, we present the long-term sustainability advantages of organics when compared to silicon and other photovoltaic technologies in terms of energy payback time and global warming potential while also discussing the outlook for transitional applications of organic solar cells.

Fully printed organic tandem solar cells using solution-processed silver nanowires and opaque silver as charge collecting electrodes

“…9,[20][21][22] However, the overwhelming majority of efficient OSCs were fabricated in an inert atmosphere based on non-solution processed electrodes, such as sputtered indium tin oxide (ITO) and vacuum-deposited metals, which are energy and time consuming processes and inevitably increase the production cost. 23,24 Therefore, the record performances of OSCs reported to date are impressive but do not directly contribute to the commercialization of the OPV technology.…”

Highly efficient, large area, roll coated flexible and rigid OPV modules with geometric fill factors up to 98.5% processed with commercially available materials

“…Furthermore, the rapid energy payback time of these technologies makes them of particular interest. 1 Despite the high efficiencies reported on lab scale devices, which recently surpassed 10% power conversion efficiency (PCE) for organic photovoltaics (OPV) 2 and 20% 3 for perovskite based ones, very little progress is shown towards up-scaling processing of solar cells. [4][5][6][7][8] Large area, roll-to-roll (R2R) processed solar cells and modules usually show a quite remarkable drop in efficiencies compared to small area, lab-produced hero cells, 9 highlighting the importance of the development of a stable, reliable production process which should allow a minimization of the performance losses.…”

Role of Vertical Segregation in Semitransparent Organic Photovoltaics

“…1 However, the benefits of OPV rely on the possibility to produce flexible and low weight products with a high degree of design freedom with very rapid payback times. 2 In addition, it has been claimed that OPV can overperform silicon technology under low light conditions. 3 These advantages and the ease of handling in subsequent product-integration processes will enable its implementation into new consumer and portable electronics such as building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) products.…”