Toward Real Setting Applications of Organic and Perovskite Solar Cells: A Comparative Review

Abstract

The development of efficient, reliable, and clean energy sources is one of the global priorities for enabling a sustainable transition toward a green society and economy. The third‐generation solar cells, such as organic solar cells (OSCs) and perovskite solar cells (PSCs), are among the most promising platforms for the generation of electrical power from sunlight for a wide range of applications. However, the widespread diffusion of emerging photovoltaics technologies is hampered by issues occurring in the translation of laboratory‐scale R&D efforts to real settings. Herein, starting from a thorough survey of latest research on OSC and PSC technologies, critical factors related to fabrication and operation of solar cells, especially in terms of materials properties/requirements and beyond metrics built on efficiency only, are analyzed. On this basis, OSCs and PSCs are compared in terms of their potential in real application scenarios, also highlighting their peculiarities in view of their future large‐scale utilization.

Sodium Alginate as a Natural Substrate for Efficient and Sustainable Organic Solar Cells

“…Bulk heterojunction (BHJ) organic solar cells (OSCs) offer great opportunities for the deployment of solar energy in new unexpected areas. − This is possible, thanks to their unique properties and remarkable merits such as low-cost manufacturing, reduced environmental impact (including the absence of toxic and rare elements), tunability of properties, and compatibility with ultrathin, lightweight, and flexible substrates. Research has made significant breakthroughs and progresses in terms of material design, , device architecture, and processing conditions, , leading to state-of-the-art devices with power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) exceeding 19%. − The aforementioned specific and unique characteristics, combined with enhanced photovoltaic performance and proper operational lifetimes, highlight the great potential of OSCs for a widespread application range including building integration (indoor/outdoor), bioelectronics, self-powered (even wearable) devices, and Internet of Things (IoT). − …”

“…10−12 The aforementioned specific and unique characteristics, combined with enhanced photovoltaic performance and proper operational lifetimes, highlight the great potential of OSCs for a widespread application range including building integration (indoor/outdoor), bioelectronics, self-powered (even wearable) devices, and Internet of Things (IoT). 13−18 Despite the numerous challenges toward the commercial viability of this technology, 1,19 the production of customized lightweight and flexible OSCs is expected to rapidly increase in the near future, in particular considering their integration in smart products designed for relatively short life cycles or even disposable applications. This could represent a real risk of generating a severe environmental impact deriving from a large amount of electronic wastes and nondegradable plastics, being flexible OSCs typically built on poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) or poly(ethylene naphthalate) (PEN) substrates.…”

“…Despite the numerous challenges toward the commercial viability of this technology, , the production of customized lightweight and flexible OSCs is expected to rapidly increase in the near future, in particular considering their integration in smart products designed for relatively short life cycles or even disposable applications. This could represent a real risk of generating a severe environmental impact deriving from a large amount of electronic wastes and nondegradable plastics, being flexible OSCs typically built on poly­(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) or poly­(ethylene naphthalate) (PEN) substrates .…”

Synthesis of ternary copper antimony sulfide via solventless thermolysis or aerosol assisted chemical vapour deposition using metal dithiocarbamates

“…Therefore, there is currently a concerted drive towards developing green routes to produce sustainable energy from renewable sources, such as solar energy 1 . Photovoltaic (PV) devices have the potential to be low-cost and sustainable with high solar to electrical energy conversion efficiencies 2 , 3 . However, this is highly dependent on the abundance and cost of the initial materials and the scalability of the deposition technique.…”

Lamination methods for the fabrication of perovskite and organic photovoltaics

“…[30][31][32][33][34] In the case of OPVs, the conventional structure includes the TCE glass substrate, HTL, light absorber consisting of a bilayer or mixture of p-type (an electron acceptor) and n-type materials (an electron donor), the buffer layer, and metal back contact. 35,36 The ease of device fabrication for both PSCs and OPVs utilizing solution-processed methods such as spin-coating, slot-die coating, or inkjet printing is the key factor in their success. 14,[37][38][39] However, the deposition of a metal back contact in both kinds of solar cells is the most challenging part of device fabrication, which mainly needs a vacuum-based processing such as thermal evaporation or physical vapor deposition (PVD).…”