High precision processing of flexible P3HT/PCBM modules with geometric fill factor over 95%

Flexible organic tandem solar modules with 6% efficiency: combining roll-to-roll compatible processing with high geometric fill factors

“…was chosen as the transparent bottom electrode for our tandem solar cells. 33,17 The complete architecture of our exible tandem device is illustrated in Fig. 1a.…”

“…Although exible OPV single cells on IMI substrates have been demonstrated before, 33 the increased thickness of the tandem structure imposes additional strain on the devices. Tandem modules are particularly susceptible to device failure under mechanical stress, which can lead, amongst others, to delamination of the interconnection lines/areas and the recombination layer.…”

“…20 The concept was recently introduced by Kubis et al who presented laser patterned OPV single junction modules based on ITO-metal (silver)-ITO (IMI) electrodes. 33 Here the serial interconnection between individual cells is accomplished with ultrafast depth-resolved laser patterning. This procedure takes advantage of the high spatial resolution intrinsic to laser scribing (typically in the mm range, 20 as determined by the laser focal spot size of the laser beam) as opposed to the limited, submm resolution of most 1-D and 2-D coating techniques, where onsite structuring of the OPV cells, e.g., through lateral displacement of the coating head, leads to rather low GFFs.…”

“…33 Note that other groups have previously demonstrated practical examples of ultra-fast laser processing in combination with transparent, exible electrodes.…”

Over 2 Years of Outdoor Operational and Storage Stability of ITO‐Free, Fully Roll‐to‐Roll Fabricated Polymer Solar Cell Modules

“…[4] Cost reductions are achieved from all facets of PSC development from early materials development to final module installation. These include:t he developmento fi ndium-tin-oxide (ITO)-free alternatives; [5,6] large-scale simples ynthetic routes to high-efficiency photoactivep olymers; [7,8] the vacuum-free productiono fm odules; [9][10][11] extremely fast manufacture through roll-to-roll coating and printing techniques; [12,13] improvements in module design, for example,t o achieve high geometric fill factor modules; [14] in situ assembly of an infinite number of modules, [15] and fast installation, as demonstrated by the first PSC-based solar cell parkd elivering kW levels of energy. [16] Some efforts, albeit to al esser degree than those dedicated to cost minimizationa nd efficiency improvements, have also been dedicated to maximizing the durability or stability of PSCs.A lthough the degradation mechanisms at play in organic solar cells and modules have been the subjecto faplethora of studies and have been reviewed on many occasions, [17,18] there are only af ew examples of how these understandings have translated into improvingo re nhancing the real-world stability of PSCs.C ertainly,t here are an umber of accelerated ageings tudies on small devices and large-area modules predicting lifetimes even up to 15-20 years, [9,19,20] however these studies may not capturet he real environmental stressest hat are often harsher than those commonly used in accelerated studies on PSCs.J udgingf rom the literature, accelerated tests under 1sun conditions,A M1.5G at at emperature of 30-70 8Ca re the preferred test conditions for predicting lifetimes, [9,13,19,21,22] which,i nt urn, is calculated by matching the irradiation exposure of as olar cell under…”