TY - JOUR

T1 - Aesthetically Pleasing Conjugated Polymer: Fullerene Blends for Blue-Green Solar Cells Via Roll-to-Roll Processing

A1 - Amb,Chad M.

A1 - Craig,Michael R.

A1 - Koldemir,Unsal

A1 - Subbiah,Jegadesan

A1 - Choudhury,Kaushik Roy

A1 - Gevorgyan,Suren A.

A1 - Jørgensen,Mikkel

A1 - Krebs,Frederik C.

A1 - So,Franky

A1 - Reynolds,John R.

AU - Amb,Chad M.

AU - Craig,Michael R.

AU - Koldemir,Unsal

AU - Subbiah,Jegadesan

AU - Choudhury,Kaushik Roy

AU - Gevorgyan,Suren A.

AU - Jørgensen,Mikkel

AU - Krebs,Frederik C.

AU - So,Franky

AU - Reynolds,John R.

PB - American Chemical Society

PY - 2012

Y1 - 2012

N2 - The practical application of organic photovoltaic (OPV) cells requires high throughput printing techniques in order to attain cells with an area large enough to provide useful amounts of power. However, in the laboratory screening of new materials for OPVs, spin-coating is used almost exclusively as a thin-film deposition technique due its convenience. We report on the significant differences between the spin-coating of laboratory solar cells and slot-die coating of a blue-green colored, low bandgap polymer (PGREEN). This is one of the first demonstrations of slot-die-coated polymer solar cells OPVs not utilizing poly(3-hexylthiophene):(6,6)-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) blends as a light absorbing layer. Through synthetic optimization, we show that strict protocols are necessary to yield polymers which achieve consistent photovoltaic behavior. We fabricated spin-coated laboratory scale OPV devices with PGREEN: PCBM blends as active light absorbing layers, and compare performance to slot die-coated individual solar cells, and slot-die-coated solar modules consisting of many cells connected in series. We find that the optimum ratio of polymer to PCBM varies significantly when changing from spin-coating of thinner active layer films to slot-die coating, which requires somewhat thicker films. We also demonstrate the detrimental impacts on power conversion efficiency of high series resistance imparted by large electrodes, illustrating the need for higher conductivity contacts, transparent electrodes, and high mobility active layer materials for large-area solar cell modules.

AB - The practical application of organic photovoltaic (OPV) cells requires high throughput printing techniques in order to attain cells with an area large enough to provide useful amounts of power. However, in the laboratory screening of new materials for OPVs, spin-coating is used almost exclusively as a thin-film deposition technique due its convenience. We report on the significant differences between the spin-coating of laboratory solar cells and slot-die coating of a blue-green colored, low bandgap polymer (PGREEN). This is one of the first demonstrations of slot-die-coated polymer solar cells OPVs not utilizing poly(3-hexylthiophene):(6,6)-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) blends as a light absorbing layer. Through synthetic optimization, we show that strict protocols are necessary to yield polymers which achieve consistent photovoltaic behavior. We fabricated spin-coated laboratory scale OPV devices with PGREEN: PCBM blends as active light absorbing layers, and compare performance to slot die-coated individual solar cells, and slot-die-coated solar modules consisting of many cells connected in series. We find that the optimum ratio of polymer to PCBM varies significantly when changing from spin-coating of thinner active layer films to slot-die coating, which requires somewhat thicker films. We also demonstrate the detrimental impacts on power conversion efficiency of high series resistance imparted by large electrodes, illustrating the need for higher conductivity contacts, transparent electrodes, and high mobility active layer materials for large-area solar cell modules.

KW - polymer solar cells

KW - roll-to-roll printing/coating

KW - slot-die coating

KW - low band gap polymers

U2 - 10.1021/am300156p

DO - 10.1021/am300156p

JO - A C S Applied Materials and Interfaces

JF - A C S Applied Materials and Interfaces

SN - 1944-8244

VL - 4

SP - 1847

EP - 1853

ER -