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Organic Photovoltaic Materials and Devices

A special issue of Materials (ISSN 1996-1944).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 May 2017) | Viewed by 6253

Special Issue Editor

NOVITAS, Nanoelectronics Centre of Excellence, School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798, Singapore
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Since the early 1990s, the field of organic photovoltaic materials and devices has undergone rapid and impressive developments in both materials synthesis, device processing and characterization. Following initial studies on photovoltaic energy conversion organic single and bilayer heterojunctions, the discovery of efficient exciton dissociation at bulk heterojunctions comprising inter-penetrating donor-acceptor networks has enabled the power conversion efficiency of present devices to exceed 10%. This, together with the solution processing and print patterning of organic semiconductor materials, will enable organic photovoltaics to become a viable technology in coming years. Building integrated organic photovoltaics is an application that has been demonstrated.

For any photovoltaic technology, the key requirements for long-term viability are the device cost, photovoltaic power conversion efficiency and the device lifetime. This Special Issue is focused on these three aspects of organic photovoltaics. Research and review articles addressing new p-type and n-type organic semiconductor for photovoltaics, fundamental aspects of exciton formation and dissociation, carrier transport, bulk heterojunction interface structure and effect of defects on device performance are topics within the scope of this Special Issue. Manuscripts dealing with novel device processing techniques and efficiency enhancement, such as plasmonic nanoparticles for light trapping are welcome. Research on degradation mechanisms and device passivation techniques, radical new concepts of energy conversion in organic photovoltaics and novel organic-inorganic hybrid device structures are especially of interest to this Special Issue.

Prof. Dr. Terence K.S. Wong
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Novel donor and acceptors
  • Material synthesis and characterization
  • Novel device structure and processing
  • Light trapping and management
  • Device degradation and lifetime
  • Passivation techniques
  • Applications of organic photovoltaics
  • Manufacturing techniques for organic photovoltaics

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Review

6646 KiB  
Review
Fabrication Processes to Generate Concentration Gradients in Polymer Solar Cell Active Layers
by Shusei Inaba and Varun Vohra
Materials 2017, 10(5), 518; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma10050518 - 09 May 2017
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 5826
Abstract
Polymer solar cells (PSCs) are considered as one of the most promising low-cost alternatives for renewable energy production with devices now reaching power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) above the milestone value of 10%. These enhanced performances were achieved by developing new electron-donor (ED) and [...] Read more.
Polymer solar cells (PSCs) are considered as one of the most promising low-cost alternatives for renewable energy production with devices now reaching power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) above the milestone value of 10%. These enhanced performances were achieved by developing new electron-donor (ED) and electron-acceptor (EA) materials as well as finding the adequate morphologies in either bulk heterojunction or sequentially deposited active layers. In particular, producing adequate vertical concentration gradients with higher concentrations of ED and EA close to the anode and cathode, respectively, results in an improved charge collection and consequently higher photovoltaic parameters such as the fill factor. In this review, we relate processes to generate active layers with ED–EA vertical concentration gradients. After summarizing the formation of such concentration gradients in single layer active layers through processes such as annealing or additives, we will verify that sequential deposition of multilayered active layers can be an efficient approach to remarkably increase the fill factor and PCE of PSCs. In fact, applying this challenging approach to fabricate inverted architecture PSCs has the potential to generate low-cost, high efficiency and stable devices, which may revolutionize worldwide energy demand and/or help develop next generation devices such as semi-transparent photovoltaic windows. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Organic Photovoltaic Materials and Devices)
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