Degradation of bulk heterojunction solar cells operated in an inert gas atmosphere: a systematic study

Padinger, F.; Fromherz, T.; Denk, Patrick; Brabec, Christoph J.; Zettner, J.; Hierl, Thomas; Sariciftci, Niyazi Serdar

doi:10.1016/s0379-6779(00)01504-6

Cited by 75 publications

(36 citation statements)

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“…[ 66,67 ] For some polymers such as the polyphenylenevinylene (PPV) derivatives, rapid aging in the dark has also been reported. [ 68,69 ] Temperature is less detrimental since the typical device temperatures during operation in realistic test condition are below 100 °C. However, in some cases during the production process high temperature (above 100 °C) annealing steps are utilized, which can result in thermal aging of the polymer [63][64][65] and thus the thermal stability of the polymers becomes vital for the device lifetime.…”

Section: Role Of the Photoactive Layermentioning

confidence: 99%

Lifetime of Organic Photovoltaics: Status and Predictions

Gevorgyan

Madsen

Roth

et al. 2015

Advanced Energy Materials

137

124

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performance level, especially when considering large-scale mass-produced modules, is predicted to be signifi cantly lower. [ 8 ] Nevertheless, based on recent advances in the upscaling of OPV manufacture [9][10][11][12] it is reasonable to assume that the mass production of modules with an effi ciency of more than 5% is an achievable target today. Durability of OPV is however yet to be proven and demonstrated.Due to core architectural differences between OPV and inorganic technologies [ 13 ] the established testing standards of the latter are not applicable to the former. [ 1 ] Hence, for many years the stability testing of OPV has primarily been based on customized procedures that vary from one laboratory to another, generating incomparable data. [ 14 ] Moreover, due to the complexity of the OPV device architectures [ 15 ] and a multitude of aging mechanisms taking place at the same time [ 16 ] the aging curve of OPV often takes a complex shape, which is diffi cult to model, [ 14,17 ] thus making the identifi cation of a practical operational lifetime diffi cult or impossible. [ 18 ] As a result, even with a multitude of reported review articles discussing OPV stability [ 16,[19][20][21][22][23][24] at hand, it is still challenging to identify where the technology stands in terms of lifetime. To address this it is necessary to create a yardstick -a generic marker that allows accurate rating and comparison of the lifetime for OPV, and thus enabling the gauging of progress over time. An additional complication that has arisen due to the signifi cant improvements in OPV stability and durability in recent years is that the determination of OPV lifetimes has become an impractically long process, and establishing markers for both accelerated and real operational test conditions (if successful) would allow developing a prediction tool that could speed up the stability testing process and tackle this issue.The groundwork towards creating such a marker was laid in 2011 at the International Summit on OPV Stability (ISOS) where the ISOS testing guidelines were decided upon and described for OPV technologies. [ 18 ] These guidelines were primarily aimed at harmonizing testing procedures among different laboratories by offering a set of indoor and outdoor tests with controlled conditions. This has helped to reduce variations in the reported results, making the aging studies of different laboratories more comparable. [ 25 ] While the ISOS tests harmonized the test conditions, the questions of how to generically determine the lifetime from aging curves of diverse shapes, and how to build a technique for predicting the lifetime based on accelerated tests remained.The results of a meta-analysis conducted on organic photovoltaics (OPV) lifetime data reported in the literature is presented through the compilation of an extensive OPV lifetime database based on a large number of articles, followed by analysis of the large body of data. We fully reveal the progress of reported OPV lifetimes. Furthermore, a generic lifetime marker has...

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Section: Role Of the Photoactive Layermentioning

confidence: 99%

Lifetime of Organic Photovoltaics: Status and Predictions

Gevorgyan

Madsen

Roth

et al. 2015

Advanced Energy Materials

137

124

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Also, since many degradation paths (or failure mechanisms) are possibly in play at different times as demonstrated elsewhere [31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44] it is of paramount importance to follow the device to the end of its life and correlate the changes in device performance with chemical and physical changes in the device. Based on previous experience, [38][39][40][41][42] this is most rationally achieved through TOF-SIMS methodologies.…”

Section: Iv-characteristics and Degradationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of the failure mechanism for a stable organic photovoltaic during 10 000 h of testing

Krebs

Norrman

2007

Progress in Photovoltaics

411

331

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The degradation and failure mechanisms of a stable photovoltaic device comprising a bilayer heterojunction formed between poly(3-carboxythiophene-2,5-diyl-co-thiophene-2,5-diyl) (P3CT) and Buckminsterfullerene (C 60 ) sandwiched between indium tin oxide (ITO) and aluminium (Al) electrodes were elucidated by the time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS) analysis in conjunction with isotopic labelling using 18 O 2 after a total testing time of 13 000 h. This experiment allowed us to understand the chemistry that takes place in three dimensions during degradation and failure of the device under accelerated testing conditions. The cell was subjected to continuous illumination with an incident light intensity of 1000 W m S2(AM1Á5) at 72 W 2-C under a vacuum of <10 S6 mBar. During the illumination period, IV-curves were recorded at regular intervals and the short circuit current of the device was monitored every 10 s for 10 760 h. The total illumination time was 12 200 h. During this period of time, the device performance degraded and the device was finally left in the dark at 25-C in an atmosphere where the oxygen had been replaced with the isotope 18 O 2 . After 800 h in this atmosphere in the dark, the final IV-curves in the dark and under illumination were recorded. The main purpose of this work was the analysis using TOF-SIMS imaging and depth profiling of the degraded cell. The combined analyses correspond to the three-dimensional chemical imaging of the device showing specifically where the oxygen had reacted during exposure. Several general findings were made that are applicable to similar devices. It was found that the oxygen diffuses into the device through the Al electrode in between the Al grains and through microscopic holes in the Al electrode. Once inside the device the oxygen diffuses in the lateral and vertical plane until the counter electrode is reached. C 60 was found to be susceptible to the incorporation of 18 O but P3CT was not under the conditions in question. The other prominent degradation pathway was found to be the diffusion of electrode materials into the device. Both electrode materials diffuse through the entire device to the counter electrode.

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“…For example, OPV devices with active layers composed of poly(phenylene vinylene) (PPV) or poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) (P3HT) have been shown to be susceptible to degradation by water and oxygen [9e11]. In addition, extrinsic degradation can also occur when exposing devices to UV light [12,13], elevated temperatures [14,15], high drive current [16], etc. Intrinsic degradation, on the other hand, results from factors that are built into the device, such as interfacial instability, molecular diffusion, phase separation, or reaction between components.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Solution aging and degradation of a transparent conducting polymer dispersion

Jacobs

Friedrich

et al. 2016

Organic Electronics

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a b s t r a c tAs organic electronics improve, there is increased research interest on the longevity and stability of both the device and individual material components. Most of these studies focus on post deposition degradation and aging of the film. In this article, we examine the stability of polyelectrolyte dispersions before film coating. We observe substantial differences in the solution properties of the transparent conducting polymer, S-P3MEET, when comparing fresh versus aged dispersions and relate these solution differences to film properties. The aged dispersion contains large agglomerates and exhibits a typical shear-thinning rheological behavior, which results in non-uniformity of the spin-coated films. Near edge X-ray absorption fine structure measurements were used to differentiate the changes in bonding and oxidation states and show that aged S-P3MEET is more highly self-doped than fresh S-P3MEET. We also show that addition of acid, salt or heat to fresh S-P3MEET can accelerate the degradation/aging process but are subjected to different mechanisms. Conductivity measurements of S-P3MEET films illustrate that there is a tradeoff between increased work function and decreased conductivity upon perfluorinated ionomer (PFI) loading. The formation of nanostructure in solution is also correlated to film morphology variations obtained from atomic force microscopy. We expect that dispersion aging is a process that commonly exists in most solution-dispersed polyelectrolyte materials and that the methodologies presented in this paper might be beneficial to future degradation/stability studies.

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Degradation of bulk heterojunction solar cells operated in an inert gas atmosphere: a systematic study

Cited by 75 publications

References 0 publications

Lifetime of Organic Photovoltaics: Status and Predictions

Lifetime of Organic Photovoltaics: Status and Predictions

Analysis of the failure mechanism for a stable organic photovoltaic during 10 000 h of testing

Solution aging and degradation of a transparent conducting polymer dispersion

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