Evaluation of ink-jet printed current collecting grids and busbars for ITO-free organic solar cells

Kroon, Jan; Veenstra, Sjoerd; Andriessen, Ronn; Galagan, Yulia; Blom, Paul W. M.; Coenen, Erica; Gorter, Harrie; Sabik, Sami; Barink, M.

doi:10.1016/j.solmat.2012.04.039

Cited by 125 publications

(108 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…In polymer solar cells, a blend of a polymer and large fullerene derivative molecules are dissolved in chlorobenzene or a similar solvent to make the active layer. The concentration of the solution droplets is low, the evaporation rate of the solvent is also low during the droplet flight and therefore it can be safely assumed that the solution droplet impact is not affected by the solute [5,31]. For 40 µm droplets of solvent chlorobenzene at 50 °C with an impact velocity of 10 m/s, the dimensionless term introduced above for the onset of splashing, viz., We ½ Re ¼ is about 64, which is slightly higher than the splashing threshold.…”

Section: Droplet Impact On a Cold Surfacementioning

confidence: 99%

“…A velocity of 10 m/s is quite high for spray coating of solar cell materials and lower velocities are recommended. For instance, the velocity of the droplets produced by ultrasonic atomization can be controlled by the velocity of the carrier gas [5]. For an impact velocity of 3 m/s, the above dimensionless group will be about 14, which is well below the splashing threshold.…”

Section: Droplet Impact On a Cold Surfacementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Ink-jet printing is a high precision and high resolution technique, but compared to spray coating it is a slower process. It appears that ink-jet printing is more suitable for the fabrication of lines and grids such as electrodes [5] rather than the entire surface area of the active layer of a solar cell, for instance.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Spray-on Thin Film PV Solar Cells: Advances, Potentials and Challenges

Eslamian

2014

Coatings

139

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Abstract:The capability to fabricate photovoltaic (PV) solar cells on a large scale and at a competitive price is a milestone waiting to be achieved. Currently, such a fabrication method is lacking because the effective methods are either difficult to scale up or expensive due to the necessity for fabrication in a vacuum environment. Nevertheless, for a class of thin film solar cells, in which the solar cell materials can be processed in a solution, up scalable and vacuum-free fabrication techniques can be envisioned. In this context, all or some layers of polymer, dye-sensitized, quantum dot, and copper indium gallium selenide thin film solar cells illustrate some examples that may be processed in solution. The solution-processed materials may be transferred to the substrate by atomizing the solution and carrying the spray droplets to the substrate, a process that will form a thin film after evaporation of the solvent. Spray coating is performed at atmospheric pressure using low cost equipment with a roll-to-roll process capability, making it an attractive fabrication technique, provided that fairly uniform layers with high charge carrier separation and transport capability can be made. In this paper, the feasibility, the recent advances and challenges of fabricating spray-on thin film solar cells, the dynamics of spray and droplet impaction on the substrate, the photo-induced electron transfer in spray-on solar cells, the challenges on characterization and simulation, and the commercialization status of spray-on solar cells are discussed.

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Section: Droplet Impact On a Cold Surfacementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Droplet Impact On a Cold Surfacementioning

confidence: 99%

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Spray-on Thin Film PV Solar Cells: Advances, Potentials and Challenges

Eslamian

2014

Coatings

139

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“…The power output of these cells can be affected due to the grid thickness as well as shading degradation [35]. The affect of these parameters has been studied in [36]. In [37], the effect of conductivity on the performance of thin-film solar cells has been studied.…”

Section: Front Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrated Front–Rear-Grid Optimization of Free-Form Solar Cells

Gupta

Barink

Galagan

et al. 2017

IEEE J. Photovoltaics

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Free-form solar cells expand solar power beyond traditional rectangular geometries. With the flexibility of being installed on objects of daily use, they allow making better use of available space and are expected to bring in new possibilities of generating solar power in the coming future. In addition, their customizable shape can add to the aesthetics of the surroundings. Evidently, free-form solar cells need to be efficient as well. One way to improve their performance is to optimize the metallization patterns for these cells. This work introduces an optimization strategy to optimize the metallization designs of a solar cell such that its performance can be maximized. For the purpose of optimization, we model an existing transparent free-form solar cell design, including front and rear electrode patterns, to validate it against previously published experimental results. The front and rear metallizations of this transparent freeform solar cell are subsequently redesigned using topology optimization. More than 50% improvement in output power is achieved by using topology optimization.

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“…Ink-jet printing is a high precision and high resolution technique, but compared to spray coating it is a slower process. It appears that ink-jet printing is more suitable for the fabrication of lines and grids such as electrodes [4] rather than the entire surface area of the active layer of a solar cell.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spray-on PEDOT:PSS and P3HT:PCBM Thin Films for Polymer Solar Cells

Eslamian

Newton

2014

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Abstract:PEDOT:PSS electron-blocking layer, and PEDOT:PSS + P3HT:PCBM stacked layers are fabricated by ultrasonic atomization and characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and optical profilometry. The measured thicknesses based on SEM and optical profilometry are quite different, indicating the incapability of measurement techniques for non-uniform thin films. The thickness measurements are compared against theoretical estimations and a qualitative agreement is observed. Results indicate that using a multiple pass fabrication strategy results in a more uniform thin film. It was also found that the film characteristics are a strong function of solution concentration and spraying passes, and a weak function of substrate speed. Film thickness increases with solution concentration but despite the prediction of theory, the increase is not linear, indicating a change in the film porosity and density, which can affect physical and opto-electrical properties. Overall, while spray coating is a viable fabrication process for a wide range of solar cells, film characteristics can be easily altered by a change in process parameters.

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Evaluation of ink-jet printed current collecting grids and busbars for ITO-free organic solar cells

Cited by 125 publications

References 24 publications

Spray-on Thin Film PV Solar Cells: Advances, Potentials and Challenges

Spray-on Thin Film PV Solar Cells: Advances, Potentials and Challenges

Integrated Front–Rear-Grid Optimization of Free-Form Solar Cells

Spray-on PEDOT:PSS and P3HT:PCBM Thin Films for Polymer Solar Cells

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