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High Thickness Tolerance in All‐Polymer‐Based Organic Photovoltaics Enables Efficient and Stable In‐Door Operation

Lei Zhang Orcid Logo, Seonjeong Lee, Song Yi Park, Oskar J. Sandberg, Emily J. Yang, Paul Meredith Orcid Logo, Yun‐Hi Kim Orcid Logo, Ji‐Seon Kim Orcid Logo

Advanced Science, Volume: 11, Issue: 42, Start page: 2408181

Swansea University Author: Paul Meredith Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1002/advs.202408181

Abstract

Organic photovoltaics (OPVs) have great potential to drive low‐power consumption electronic devices under indoor light due to their highly tunable optoelectronic properties. Thick devices (>300 nm photo‐active junctions) are desirable to maximize photocurrent and to manufacture large‐scale module...

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Published in: Advanced Science
ISSN: 2198-3844 2198-3844
Published: Wiley 2024
Online Access: Check full text

URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa68599
Abstract: Organic photovoltaics (OPVs) have great potential to drive low‐power consumption electronic devices under indoor light due to their highly tunable optoelectronic properties. Thick devices (>300 nm photo‐active junctions) are desirable to maximize photocurrent and to manufacture large‐scale modules via solution‐processing. However, thick devices usually suffer from severe charge recombination, deteriorating device performances. Herein, the study demonstrates excellent thickness tolerance of all‐polymer‐based PVs for efficient and stable indoor applications. Under indoor light, device performance is less dependent on photoactive layer thickness, exhibiting the best maximum power output in thick devices (34.7 µW cm−2 in 320–475 nm devices). Thick devices also exhibit much better photostability compared with thin devices. Such high thickness tolerance of all‐polymer‐based PV devices under indoor operation is attributed to strongly suppressed space‐charge effects, leading to reduced bimolecular recombination losses in thick devices. The unbalanced charge carrier mobilities are identified as the main cause for significant space‐charge effects, which is confirmed by drift‐diffusion simulations. This work suggests that all‐polymer‐based PVs, even with unbalanced mobilities, are highly desirable for thick, efficient, and stable devices for indoor applications.
Keywords: Indoor photovoltaics, organic solar cells, polymer/polymer blends, space-charge effect, thickness tolerance
College: Faculty of Science and Engineering
Funders: This research was supported by LAMP Program of the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Ministry of Education (RS-2023-00301974). The work at Swansea University was funded through the Welsh Government's Sêr Cymru II Program “Sustainable Advanced Materials” (Welsh European Funding Office − European Regional Development Fund) and UKRI Research England RPIF Program (Centre for Integrative Semiconductor Materials). P.M. is a Sêr Cymru II Research Chair also funded through the Welsh Government's Sêr Cymru II “Sustainable Advanced Materials” Program (European Regional Development Fund, Welsh European Funding Office and Swansea University Strategic Initiative). This work was also funded by the UKRI through the EPSRC Grant EP/T028513/1 Application Targeted and Integrated Photovoltaics. O.J.S. acknowledges funding from the Research Council of Finland through project #357196.
Issue: 42
Start Page: 2408181