Reel-to-reel wet coating as an efficient up-scaling technique for the production of bulk-heterojunction polymer solar cells

Blankenburg, Lars; Schultheis, K.; Schache, Hannes; Sensfuß, Steffi; Schrödner, M.

doi:10.1016/j.solmat.2008.12.013

Cited by 156 publications

(81 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…Organic photovoltaic (OPV) solar cells have attracted significant attention due to their great potential for large-area, light-weight, flexible, and low-cost devices [1][2][3][4]. Recently, OPV research has been dominated by the poly(3-hexylthiophene): [6]-phenyl C 61 -butyric acid methyl ester (P3HT: PCBM) blend reaching power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of 5-7 % [5,6].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparative study: the effect of annealing conditions on the properties of P3HT:PCBM blends

et al. 2012

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This paper presents a detailed study on the role of various annealing treatments on organic poly(3-hexylthiophene) and [6]-phenyl-C 61 -butyric acid methyl ester blends under different experimental conditions. A combination of analytical tools is used to study the alteration of the phase separation, structure and photovoltaic properties of the P3HT:PCBM blend during the annealing process. Results showed that the thermal annealing yields PCBM ''needle-like'' crystals and that prolonged heat treatment leads to extensive phase separation, as demonstrated by the growth in the size and quantity of PCBM crystals. The substrate annealing method demonstrated an optimal morphology by eradicating and suppressing the formation of fullerene clusters across the film, resulting in longer P3HT fibrils with smaller diameter. Improved optical constants, PL quenching and a decrease in the P3HT optical bad-gap were demonstrated for the substrate annealed films due to the limited diffusion of the PCBM molecules. An effective strategy for determining an optimized morphology through substrate annealing treatment is therefore revealed for improved device efficiency. IntroductionOrganic photovoltaic (OPV) solar cells have attracted significant attention due to their great potential for large-area, light-weight, flexible, and low-cost devices [1][2][3][4]. Recently, OPV research has been dominated by the poly(3-hexylthiophene):[6]-phenyl C 61 -butyric acid methyl ester (P3HT: PCBM) blend reaching power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of 5-7 % [5,6]. Most recently a record PCE of about 8.13 and 8.5 % has been reported [7, 8]. Despite recent achievements, improvement in PCEs, stability and lifetime of the devices are necessary before organic solar cells become commercially viable [9][10][11]. The PCE of the solar cells based on the P3HT/fullerene system depends strongly on the processing conditions [12] and can be improved by increasing the crystalline content of the P3HT. Different approaches have been suggested for the optimization of the morphology, such as thermal annealing [5,6,[13][14][15]

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparative study: the effect of annealing conditions on the properties of P3HT:PCBM blends

et al. 2012

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“…As well as a complete process for production of flexible large area polymer solar cells entirely using screen printing has been demonstrated (Krebs et al, 2009b). There are many publications where slot die coating was chosen for the deposition of several layers, including active layer, in polymer based solar cells (Blankenburg et al, 2009;Krebs & Norrman, 2010;Krebs, 2009e;Krebs, 2009a;Krebs, 2009d;Krebs et al, 2009a;Zimmermann et al, 2011). As one of the coating techniques, slot die deposition can provide very thin, uniform, non-patterned layers.…”

Section: Roll-to-roll Depositionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The biggest motivation for the development of organic solar cell technology is the low cost potential, based on the use of low-cost materials and substrates and the very high potential production speeds that can be reached by roll-to-roll printing and coating techniques (Medford et al, 2010;Krebs, 2009d;Krebs, 2009e;Krebs, 2009b;Galagan et al, 2011b;Blankenburg et al, 2009). However, indium-tin oxide (ITO), which is commonly used as a transparent electrode, is one of the main cost consuming elements in present photovoltaic devices (Krebs, 2009e;Espinosa et al, 2011).…”

Section: Ito-free Transparent Electrodementioning

confidence: 99%

Organic Photovoltaics: Technologies and Manufacturing

Galagan¹,

Andriessen²

2012

Third Generation Photovoltaics

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“…To counter this problem, solutions are often mixed with surfactants, however such additives can compromise the electronic functionality of the film. Using such an approach, thin films of PEDOT:PSS have been deposited via scalable techniques such as blade coating, [5,6,7] spray coating, [8][9][10][11][12] or gravure printing. [13,14] Unfortunately the use of techniques such as multi-pass deposition or the incorporation of surfactants can result in a reduction in performance of the PEDOT:PSS film deposited, such as reduced conductivity, low surface uniformity, the creation of thicker films (and thus reduced optical transparency), or spatially non-uniform work function.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Solution modification of PEDOT:PSS inks for ultrasonic spray coating

Griffin

Ryan

Lidzey

2017

Organic Electronics

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Article available under the terms of the CC-BY-NC-ND licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) eprints@whiterose.ac.uk https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/ Reuse Unless indicated otherwise, fulltext items are protected by copyright with all rights reserved. The copyright exception in section 29 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 allows the making of a single copy solely for the purpose of non-commercial research or private study within the limits of fair dealing. The publisher or other rights-holder may allow further reproduction and re-use of this version -refer to the White Rose Research Online record for this item. Where records identify the publisher as the copyright holder, users can verify any specific terms of use on the publisher's website. TakedownIf you consider content in White Rose Research Online to be in breach of UK law, please notify us by emailing eprints@whiterose.ac.uk including the URL of the record and the reason for the withdrawal request. show that modification of PEDOT:PSS inks using ternary solvents and by the addition of small amounts of a high molecular weight polymer make it possible to deposit highly uniform thin films via ultrasonic spray coating. Such films can be deposited using a single pass in the wet phase without the use of surfactants; a process that greatly simplifies their deposition. Using this technique we create films having thickness and roughness comparable to that of spin coated films, whilst properties such as the conductivity and stability can be improved. Solution modification of PEDOT:PSS inks for ultrasonic spray coating

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Reel-to-reel wet coating as an efficient up-scaling technique for the production of bulk-heterojunction polymer solar cells

Cited by 156 publications

References 47 publications

Comparative study: the effect of annealing conditions on the properties of P3HT:PCBM blends

Comparative study: the effect of annealing conditions on the properties of P3HT:PCBM blends

Organic Photovoltaics: Technologies and Manufacturing

Solution modification of PEDOT:PSS inks for ultrasonic spray coating

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