Article
Chemistry, Physical
Tao Song, Daniel J. Friedman, Nikos Kopidakis
Summary: Emerging photovoltaic technologies have gained remarkable attention for their rapid efficiency growth and transition toward commercialization. Accurate efficiency measurements are crucial for these technologies, but are more complicated due to their dynamic responses and susceptibility to degradation. Comprehensive efficiency calibration and reporting steady-state efficiency are important for better comparisons between reported efficiencies.
ADVANCED ENERGY MATERIALS
(2021)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Jing Wang, Deping Qian, Fangliang Dong, Hongbo Wu, Hailin Pan, Shijie Liang, Hanyu Wu, Xunda Feng, Weiwei Li, Ming Wang, Zheng Tang, Zaifei Ma
Summary: Increasing the size of side chains in donor and/or acceptor materials is an effective strategy to reduce voltage losses and improve the open-circuit voltage (Voc) of organic solar cells (OSCs). However, larger side chains can also lead to deteriorated molecular packing and limit overall cell performance. Increasing the size of acceptor side chains can improve molecular packing and enhance cell performance. The best performance is achieved when both donor and acceptor have large side chains.
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING JOURNAL
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Tobias Fritsch, Jona Kurpiers, Steffen Roland, Nurlan Tokmoldin, Safa Shoaee, Thomas Ferron, Brian A. Collins, Silvia Janietz, Koen Vandewal, Dieter Neher
Summary: The interplay between free charge carriers, charge transfer (CT) states, and singlet excitons (S-1) determines the performance of organic solar cells. In the blend, the polymer exciton dominates the radiative properties, while the non-radiative decay limits the open circuit voltage. Increasing the strength of the exciton in the optical spectra can reduce non-radiative voltage losses, not because it is more emissive. Electronic coupling between the CT state and the S-1 does not improve the open circuit voltage.
ADVANCED ENERGY MATERIALS
(2022)
Article
Physics, Applied
Xi-Kai Yang, Jia-Wei Qiao, Zhi-Hao Chen, Zhen-Chuan Wen, Hang Yin, Xiao-Tao Hao
Summary: By incorporating CdSe quantum dots as a third component, this study has successfully enhanced the current density and power conversion efficiency of organic solar cells. CdSe QDs modulate charge dynamics, increase fluorescence external quantum efficiency, and enable Forster resonance energy transfer and fast charge transfer in BHJ films, resulting in improved overall device performance.
JOURNAL OF PHYSICS D-APPLIED PHYSICS
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Xiaoyun Xu, Hongbo Wu, Shijie Liang, Zheng Tang, Mengyang Li, Jing Wang, Xiang Wang, Jin Wen, Erjun Zhou, Weiwei Li, Zaifei Ma
Summary: Poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) is a promising donor material in organic photovoltaics, especially for efficient indoor light harvesting. However, the power conversion efficiency of P3HT-based solar cells is limited due to significant voltage losses. In this study, the origin of high quantum efficiency and voltage losses in P3HT:non-fullerene solar cells was identified, and a strategy to reduce the losses was proposed. The findings suggest that improving the performance of P3HT-based solar cells requires increasing the donor-acceptor interface distance.
ACTA PHYSICO-CHIMICA SINICA
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Nora Schopp, Viktor V. Brus, Jaewon Lee, Guillermo C. Bazan, Thuc-Quyen Nguyen
Summary: The study introduces a new method to quantify exciton photogeneration, geminate and non-geminate recombination losses, and determine the mobility-lifetime product as an integrated parameter for charge transport and non-geminate recombination in organic solar cells. By utilizing common experimental methods and optical transfer matrix simulations, the new method accurately predicts the optimal active layer thickness.
ADVANCED ENERGY MATERIALS
(2021)
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
David Payno, Samrana Kazim, Shahzada Ahmad
Summary: In this study, a cation substitution of Zn by Cd was shown to improve the absorber compatibility in a superstrate architecture. All-solution processing using a water and ethanol mixture as green solvents for thin-film deposition was employed. Increasing the Cd amount in the absorber layer improved crystallinity, increased crystal size, decreased band gap, and changed the crystal structure.
JOURNAL OF MATERIALS CHEMISTRY C
(2021)
Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Mengqi Cui, Na Li, Yuying Wang, Yuting Li, Xia Tian, Xingchen Zhang, Wenting Wang, Zhongmin Liu, Qikun Rong, Xingsen Gao, Guofu Zhou, Li Nian
Summary: This study demonstrates an effective and simple approach to optimize the performance of both cathode and anode interlayers in organic solar cells by doping them with 4-heptyl-4'-cyanobiphenyl (7CB). Devices with 7CB-doped interlayers show increased short-circuit current density, fill factor, and power conversion efficiency compared to undoped interlayers, regardless of whether it is the anode or cathode interlayer, which is a rare phenomenon in the field of interlayer modification.
ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Youwen Pan, Xiangjun Zheng, Jing Guo, Zeng Chen, Shuixing Li, Chengliang He, Shounuan Ye, Xinxin Xia, Shanlu Wang, Xinhui Lu, Haiming Zhu, Jie Min, Lijian Zuo, Minmin Shi, Hongzheng Chen
Summary: Chemical modifications were made to the famous Y-series nonfullerene acceptor BTP-4Cl-BO, resulting in the synthesis of two novel NFAs, BTP-T-2Cl and BTP-T-3Cl, with extended pi-conjugation through the fusing of IC group with a chlorinated thiophene ring. The OSC using BTP-T-2Cl exhibited a modest PCE of 14.89% with an extraordinary low energy loss of 0.49 eV, while the OSC using BTP-T-3Cl showed a higher PCE of 17.61% but with a slightly bigger energy loss of 0.51 eV. Adopting two NFAs of BTP-T-3Cl and BTP-4Cl-BO, a ternary OSC achieved an impressive PCE of 18.21%, demonstrating the effectiveness of expanding end groups of NFAs with electron-donating rings in reducing energy losses for OSCs.
ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS
(2022)
Review
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Lu Liu, Adel Najar, Kai Wang, Minyong Du, Shengzhong Liu
Summary: This article reviews the achievements of applying PQDs to solar cells in recent years, including the engineering of surface ligands, additives, and hybrid composition for PQDSCs, analyzing the reasons for the undesired performance of PQDSCs, and utilizing PQDs to improve the photovoltaic performance of various solar cells.
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Tom P. A. van der Pol, Bas T. van Gorkom, Wietse F. M. van Geel, Jibbe Littmann, Martijn M. Wienk, Rene A. J. Janssen
Summary: Insight into the identity and origin of defects in organic semiconductors is crucial for targeted strategies to overcome them. The study focuses on PM6:Y6 organic solar cells and reveals that defects are formed by a trace constituent in ambient air and O-3. Aging in H2O-saturated compressed air also increases the defect response by modifying the work function of MoO3. Measurement of energy resolved-electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and different cell structures confirm that defects mainly originate from PM6 and are located near the top electrode.
ADVANCED ENERGY MATERIALS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Drew B. Riley, Paul Meredith, Ardalan Armin, Oskar J. Sandberg
Summary: This work investigates the roles of exciton diffusion and lifetime in the charge generation process under different energy offsets, and finds that the exciton lifetime is a crucial component influencing the charge generation process.
JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY LETTERS
(2022)
Review
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Quan Liu, Koen Vandewal
Summary: Organic solar cells benefit from non-fullerene acceptors (NFA) due to their high absorption coefficients, tunable frontier energy levels, and optical gaps, as well as their relatively high luminescence quantum efficiencies as compared to fullerenes. This review summarizes the understanding and quantification of non-radiative decay, as well as strategies for suppressing these losses, in order to guide researchers in finding future solar harvesting donor-acceptor blends with high efficiency.
ADVANCED MATERIALS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Shenghao Li, Manuel Pomaska, Andreas Lambertz, Weiyuan Duan, Karsten Bittkau, Depeng Qiu, Zhirong Yao, Martina Luysberg, Paul Steuter, Malte Koehler, Kaifu Qiu, Ruijiang Hong, Hui Shen, Friedhelm Finger, Thomas Kirchartz, Uwe Rau, Kaining Ding
Summary: In this study, TCO layers are substituted by utilizing lateral conduction of c-Si absorber in SHJ solar cells, achieving a TCO-free design with low series resistivity and good fill factor. Suppressing metal diffusion into a-Si:H layer through ozone treatment at the a-Si:H/metal interface improves passivation quality without increasing contact resistivity, enabling SHJ solar cells with TCO-free front contacts to achieve efficiencies exceeding 22%.
Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Seyeong Lim, Dae Hwan Lee, Hyuntae Choi, Yelim Choi, Dong Geon Lee, Sung Beom Cho, Seonkyung Ko, Jongmin Choi, Younghoon Kim, Taiho Park
Summary: Perovskite quantum dots (PQDs) have shown promise as photovoltaic absorbers, but have low stability at room humidity. In this study, researchers designed a 3D star-shaped semiconducting material to enhance compatibility with PQDs. The hybrid films formed with this material demonstrated improved stability and increased power conversion efficiency.
NANO-MICRO LETTERS
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Pascal Kaienburg, Anna Jungbluth, Irfan Habib, Sameer Vajjala Kesava, Mathias Nyman, Moritz K. Riede
Summary: Vacuum-thermal evaporation (VTE) is an important fabrication route for organic solar cells (OSCs) and can reach high extinction coefficients, but only moderate carrier mobility and voltage loss compared to solution-processed counterparts. Improvement is needed for VTE OSCs to catch up in terms of power conversion efficiency.
ADVANCED MATERIALS
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Minjin Kim, Jaeki Jeong, Haizhou Lu, Tae Kyung Lee, Felix T. Eickemeyer, Yuhang Liu, In Woo Choi, Seung Ju Choi, Yimhyun Jo, Hak-Beom Kim, Sung-In Mo, Young-Ki Kim, Heunjeong Lee, Na Gyeong An, Shinuk Cho, Wolfgang R. Tress, Shaik M. Zakeeruddin, Anders Hagfeldt, Jin Young Kim, Michael Gratzel, Dong Suk Kim
Summary: The study replaced the commonly used mesoporous titanium dioxide electron transport layer with a thin layer of polyacrylic acid-stabilized tin(IV) oxide quantum dots, which improved the efficiency and stability of perovskite solar cells and enabled successful scaling up of PSCs production.
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Maximilian T. Sirtl, Rik Hooijer, Melina Armer, Firouzeh G. Ebadi, Mahdi Mohammadi, Clement Maheu, Andreas Weis, Bas T. van Gorkom, Sebastian Haeringer, Rene A. J. Janssen, Thomas Mayer, Vladimir Dyakonov, Wolfgang Tress, Thomas Bein
Summary: The efficiency of lead-free halide perovskite solar cells based on Cs2AgBiBr6 has been limited to less than 3% since 2017 due to factors such as low electron diffusion length and poor selectivity of the contacts. In this study, 2D/3D hybrid double perovskites using phenethyl ammonium were introduced for the first time, resulting in a 10% improvement in efficiency compared to the 3D reference. This improvement is mainly attributed to higher V-OC values and improved recombination behavior and selectivity at the interface.
ADVANCED ENERGY MATERIALS
(2022)
Article
Energy & Fuels
T. Jesper Jacobsson, Adam Hultqvist, Alberto Garcia-Fernandez, Aman Anand, Amran Al-Ashouri, Anders Hagfeldt, Andrea Crovetto, Antonio Abate, Antonio Gaetano Ricciardulli, Anuja Vijayan, Ashish Kulkarni, Assaf Y. Anderson, Barbara Primera Darwich, Bowen Yang, Brendan L. Coles, Carlo A. R. Perini, Carolin Rehermann, Daniel Ramirez, David Fairen-Jimenez, Diego Di Girolamo, Donglin Jia, Elena Avila, Emilio J. Juarez-Perez, Fanny Baumann, Florian Mathies, G. S. Anaya Gonzalez, Gerrit Boschloo, Giuseppe Nasti, Gopinath Paramasivam, Guillermo Martinez-Denegri, Hampus Nasstrom, Hannes Michaels, Hans Kobler, Hua Wu, Iacopo Benesperi, M. Ibrahim Dar, Ilknur Bayrak Pehlivan, Isaac E. Gould, Jacob N. Vagott, Janardan Dagar, Jeff Kettle, Jie Yang, Jinzhao Li, Joel A. Smith, Jorge Pascual, Jose J. Jeronimo-Rendon, Juan Felipe Montoya, Juan-Pablo Correa-Baena, Junming Qiu, Junxin Wang, Kari Sveinbjornsson, Katrin Hirselandt, Krishanu Dey, Kyle Frohna, Lena Mathies, Luigi A. Castriotta, Mahmoud H. Aldamasy, Manuel Vasquez-Montoya, Marco A. Ruiz-Preciado, Marion A. Flatken, Mark Khenkin, Max Grischek, Mayank Kedia, Michael Saliba, Miguel Anaya, Misha Veldhoen, Neha Arora, Oleksandra Shargaieva, Oliver Maus, Onkar S. Game, Ori Yudilevich, Paul Fassl, Qisen Zhou, Rafael Betancur, Rahim Munir, Rahul Patidar, Samuel D. Stranks, Shahidul Alam, Shaoni Kar, Thomas Unold, Tobias Abzieher, Tomas Edvinsson, Tudur Wyn David, Ulrich W. Paetzold, Waqas Zia, Weifei Fu, Weiwei Zuo, Vincent R. F. Schroeder, Wolfgang Tress, Xiaoliang Zhang, Yu-Hsien Chiang, Zafar Iqbal, Zhiqiang Xie, Eva Unger
Summary: The article presents an approach to build an open-access database and analysis tool for perovskite solar cells in order to accelerate technology development. Researchers extract meaningful device data from peer-reviewed papers and develop open-source data analysis procedures, providing examples of insights that can be gleaned from the analysis of a large dataset. The database, graphics and analysis tools are made available to the community and will continue to evolve as an open-source initiative.
Article
Energy & Fuels
Wolfgang Tress, Maximilian T. Sirtl
Summary: Cs2AgBiBr6 double perovskites show high potential in solar cells, but major changes in absorption onset are needed to achieve higher efficiency. This material poses various scientific questions, and exact recombination and charge transport processes are yet to be unraveled, preparing us for the development of double perovskite or perovskite-like materials.
Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Bingjun Wang, Sungho Nam, Saurav Limbu, Ji-Seon Kim, Moritz Riede, Donal D. C. Bradley
Summary: This paper reports on the use of N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF) and 1-methyl-2-pyrrolidinone (NMP) as alternative solvents for copper(I) thiocyanate (CuSCN) interlayers. The properties of CuSCN layers processed from DMF and NMP are compared to those processed from traditional solvents and other recent alternatives. The study discusses the surface roughness, polymorphism, and surface chemistry of the resulting CuSCN layers, as well as the interlayer surface energy and ionization potential. The overall suitability of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and DMF as solvents for CuSCN interlayer deposition is demonstrated through device tests.
ADVANCED ELECTRONIC MATERIALS
(2022)
Review
Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
Azhar Fakharuddin, Mahesh K. Gangishetty, Mojtaba Abdi-Jalebi, Sang-Hyun Chin, Abd Rashid bin Mohd Yusoff, Daniel N. Congreve, Wolfgang Tress, Felix Deschler, Maria Vasilopoulou, Henk J. Bolink
Summary: Light-emitting diodes based on halide perovskites have achieved significant progress in recent years, with external quantum efficiencies surpassing 23%. However, their practical application is still limited due to factors such as low efficiency in blue-emitting devices, inability to access emission wavelengths above 800 nm, decreased external quantum efficiency at high current density, lack of understanding of the electric field's effect on mobile ions in perovskite materials, and short device lifetimes. This review explores the development of perovskite light-emitting diodes, examining the key challenges in creating efficient and stable devices.
NATURE ELECTRONICS
(2022)
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Minghao Li, Junjie Zhou, Liguo Tan, Yue Liu, Siyang Wang, Chaofan Jiang, Hang Li, Xing Zhao, Xingyu Gao, Wolfgang Tress, Liming Ding, Chenyi Yi
Summary: In this study, a novel brominated passivator 2-bromophenethylammonium iodide (2-Br-PEAI) is introduced for multi-functional passivation effect at the perovskite interface, effectively reducing non-radiative recombination and improving device performance.
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENTAL MATERIALS
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Zhi Chen, Jie Wang, Hongbo Wu, Jianming Yang, Yikai Wang, Jing Zhang, Qinye Bao, Ming Wang, Zaifei Ma, Wolfgang Tress, Zheng Tang
Summary: This study focuses on the key issue of high-efficiency indium tin oxide-free organic optoelectronic devices. It achieves high conductivity and low optical absorption losses in zinc oxide films through the photoinduced doping effect, and further improves the conductivity by using a stacking strategy.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Hang Li, Junjie Zhou, Liguo Tan, Minghao Li, Chaofan Jiang, Siyang Wang, Xing Zhao, Yue Liu, Yu Zhang, Yiran Ye, Wolfgang Tress, Chenyi Yi
Summary: Vacuum evaporation is a promising method for the fabrication of perovskite solar cells, with the advantages of precise film thickness control and compatibility with large-scale production. A Cl-containing alloy-mediated sequential vacuum evaporation approach was developed to fabricate perovskite films with high uniformity and few defects, resulting in high power conversion efficiency. The method provides a reproducible approach for scalable fabrication of large-area, high-efficiency perovskite solar cells and other perovskite-based optoelectronics.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Minghao Li, Junjie Zhou, Liguo Tan, Hang Li, Yue Liu, Chaofan Jiang, Yiran Ye, Liming Ding, Wolfgang Tress, Chenyi Yi
Summary: This study introduces a new method to improve the strain issue and enhance the efficiency and stability of flexible perovskite solar cells by incorporating a novel organic salt. The approach achieves high power-conversion efficiency and demonstrates excellent bending durability.
Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Pascal Kaienburg, Helen Bristow, Anna Jungbluth, Irfan Habib, Iain McCulloch, David Beljonne, Moritz Riede
Summary: The advent of nonfullerene acceptors (NFAs) has achieved over 19% power conversion efficiency in laboratory organic photovoltaics (OPVs). However, high-efficiency NFAs have only been realized in solution-processed blends. Vacuum thermal evaporation (VTE) is crucial for real-world OPV commercialization due to its successful track record in upscaled industrial production. In this study, we demonstrate that using VTE donors with NFAs instead of the current standard acceptor C-60 can significantly reduce voltage losses, highlighting the immense potential of evaporable NFAs and the urgent need for smaller, evaporable compounds.
ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES
(2023)
Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Irfan Habib, Pascal Kaienburg, Dondong Xia, Olivia Gough, Ming Zhu, Joseph Spruce, Weiwei Li, Moritz Riede
Summary: Since non-fullerene acceptors (NFAs) replaced fullerene derivatives, the power conversion efficiency of solution-processed organic solar cells (OSCs) has almost doubled. However, the successful transition from C-60 to NFAs is still pending for vacuum-thermal evaporated (VTE) OSCs due to the size limitation of NFAs. Discovering high-performing VTE NFAs is crucial for industrial manufacturing.
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Anna Jungbluth, Pascal Kaienburg, Moritz Riede
Summary: A correct determination of voltage losses is crucial for improving the performance of organic solar cells. This paper summarizes different methods for calculating voltage losses and provides a detailed discussion on important models for characterizing charge transfer state properties.
JOURNAL OF PHYSICS-MATERIALS
(2022)
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Zhi Chen, Jie Wang, Hui Jin, Jianming Yang, Qinye Bao, Zaifei Ma, Wolfgang Tress, Zheng Tang
Summary: This study investigates the impact of resistance of sol-gel grown ZnO interlayer on solar cell performance, revealing that UV-induced doping effect can lead to underestimation of photoactive area and overestimation of Jsc. The argument regarding high-resistance interlayers not leading to overestimated Jsc should be carefully evaluated.
JOURNAL OF MATERIALS CHEMISTRY C
(2021)
