Progress in Upscaling Organic Photovoltaic Devices

Abstract

Organic photovoltaic (OPV) cells have recently undergone a rapid increase in power conversion efficiency (PCE) under AM1.5G conditions, as certified by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), which have jumped from 11.5% in October 2017 to 18.2% in December 2020. However, the NREL certified PCE of large area OPV modules is still lagging far behind (11.7% in July 2020). Additionally, there has been a rapidly growing interest in the use of OPVs for dim light indoor applications, with reported PCE of some large area (≥1 cm2) devices, under 1000 lux, well above 20%. The transition of OPV from the lab to the market requires the development of effective manufacturing processes that can scale‐up laboratory‐scale devices into large area devices, without sacrificing performance and simultaneously minimizing associated manufacturing costs. This review article focuses on four important challenges that OPV technology has to face to achieve a reliable lab‐to‐fab transfer, namely: i) The upscaling of indium‐tin‐oxide (ITO)‐based single cells and the interconnection of single cells into large area modules; ii) the development of alternatives to vacuum processing; iii) the development of alternatives to ITO‐based substrates; and iv) strategies for improving the lifetime of large area OPV devices.

Review on Y6-Based Semiconductor Materials and Their Future Development via Machine Learning

“…As a milestone, a new benchmark acceptor Y6 (2,2 -((2Z,2 Z)-((12,13-bis(2-ethylhexyl)-3,9diundecyl-12,13-dihydro- [1,2,5]thiadiazolo [3,4-e]thieno [2,"3":4 ,5 ]thieno [2 ,3 :4,5]pyrrolo thieno [20,30:4,5]thieno [3,2-b]indole-2,10-diyl)bis(methanylylidene))bis (5,6-difluoro-3-oxo-2,3-dihydro-1H-indene-2,1-diylidene)) dimalononitrile)) [20] was reported in 2019 and has since been widely reported. The related reports include improving performances [21,22], understanding theories behind high performances [23], and other applications such as transparent [24,25], flexible [26], upscaling [27,28] and indoor devices [29].…”

Insights into end‐capped modifications effect on the photovoltaic and optoelectronic properties of S‐shaped fullerene‐free acceptor molecules: A density functional theory computational study for organic solar cells

“…[ 9–12 ] This makes a perfect A–D–A symmetry and this allows a perfect transportation of charges from one end to other end with low voltage loss. [ 13–16 ] The presence of out of plane rings on the backbone offered certain delights for PSCs such as low aggregation in the blend film or active layer and high solubility in the solvent. [ 17–23 ]…”

Cyclic and linear dithienyl-anthryl vinylenes: synthesis, X-ray crystallography, spectroscopic properties, and photoinduced mechanical motions

“…Great attention has been paid to conjugated molecules due to their rigid structures and optical and electronic properties based on their delocalized p-systems, thus leading to the development of optoelectronic devices, such as organic lightemitting diodes (OLEDs), [1][2][3] organic photovoltaic devices, [4][5][6][7][8][9] organic field-effect transistors, 6,10,11 organic photorefractive devices, 12 and sensors. 3,[13][14][15] In particular, cyclic conjugated molecules are of significant interest because they have unique strained structures and features, affording organic nanogrids, 16,17 photonic crystals, 18 and highly efficient OLED devices.…”