Fully Roll‐to‐Roll Printed P3HT/Indene‐C60‐Bisadduct Modules with High Open‐Circuit Voltage and Efficiency

Abstract

Indene‐C60‐bisadduct (ICBA) can represent an excellent choice as an acceptor of organic solar cells due to the, at most, similar cost, higher efficiency, and higher open‐circuit voltage (VOC) obtained in small‐scale devices compared to phenyl[60]butyrate methyl ester ([60]PCBM). We have investigated ICBA in printed solar cells and assessed the upscale of the printing process to a roll‐to‐roll (R2R) pilot production. Performances of poly(3‐hexylthiophene):ICBA solar cells are confirmed to be superior compared to [60]PCBM. Using large scale 2D R2R printing techniques, with both active material systems excellent processability, reproducibility, and yield are reached. At first, ICBA based large area modules (57 cm2) showed significant loss in efficiency. However, stressing the devices by exposure to sunlight was found to lead high efficiency modules with a VOC of 0.78 V per cell and a PCE of 3.4%. This is among the highest VOC per cell values realized with fully R2R processed organic photovoltaic modules and among the highest PCEs with P3HT based R2R processed modules. Imaging techniques have allowed to identify that stressing with sunlight partially burns shunts and recovers S‐shaped behavior in the ICBA‐based modules.

Foldable Semitransparent Organic Solar Cells for Photovoltaic and Photosynthesis

“…[ 23,24 ] This factor has restricted the use of ITO as transparent electrodes in flexible solar cells. [ 25–29 ] Several ITO alternatives as FTEs have been studied over the years, including silver nanowires (Ag NWs), [ 30–32 ] conducting polymers, [ 33–41 ] carbon‐based materials (graphene and carbon nanotubes), [ 18,42–45 ] and many more. [ 46–48 ] Among them, poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) as transparent conducting polymers showed the most promising potential for cost‐effective flexible devices owing to its exceptional intrinsic flexibility, high transparency, easy film‐processability, and superior thermal stability.…”

Printable Organic Semiconductors for Radiation Detection: From Fundamentals to Fabrication and Functionality

“…However, in terms of translating such technologies to large-scale fabrication, there has been substantially less work. Perhaps, most progress has been made in the arena of large-scale fabrication of printed organic photodiodes [15,33,105,116,[131][132][133][134][135][136][137][138][139][140][141][142][143][144][145][146][147][148][149] and field effect or electrochemically gated transistor devices [17,19,29,32,83,111,[150][151][152][153][154][155][156][157]. Each of these technologies provides a useful platform for the direct (transistors) or indirect (photodiode) detection of ionizing radiation using printed OSC technology, an area of research that is attracting increasing attention in recent years.…”

Solution‐Processable Anode Double Buffer Layers for Inverted Polymer Solar Cells

“…As for modules, different formulations of PEDOT:PSS containing surfactants and cosolvents are used to overcome the wettability issue. Viscosities are often much higher at the point that they are pastes rather than solutions and rotary screen printing is used as high‐speed deposition method. With lower viscosity formulations, flexographic printing, gravure printing, and ink‐jet printing are possible.…”

“…However, the use of a thin HTL layer is not recommended in practice because it is not sufficient to prevent the penetration of the Ag ink solvent into the photoactive layer when a printing process is applied to deposit the anode, with deleterious consequences . In fact, in typical R2R processes the thickness of the HTL is around 1000 nm, a value totally incompatible with relatively insulating metal oxides or their analogues. This issue is commonly not tackled in the routine laboratory‐scale practice, thus it is essential to stress the importance of a thick HTL for practical applications.…”