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Photovoltaic Materials
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Photovoltaic Materials

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2010) | Viewed by 42347

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Stéphane Guillerez

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Guest Editor
CEA-INES RDI, 50 Avenue Du Lac Léman, 73370 Le Bourget Du Lac, France
Interests: organic synthesis; organic materials; hybrid materials; conjugated oligomers; conjugated polymers; organic optoelectronics; organic photovoltaics; photovoltaic conversion

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Organic solar cells increasingly demonstrate their potential as viable alternatives to pure inorganic solar cells, with continuous advances accomplished in performance and lifetime. The community now considers both aspects as equally important for the development of the field and are currently sources of important research. Moreover, with the nearing prospect of applications, technological aspects are becoming important and the development of processing techniques must also be considered as a key factor for success. This special issue of Materials aims to bring together developments in materials, process and device architecture as intimately correlated factors for improved performance devices. Materials include polymers, small molecules, organic-inorganic
hybrids, interfacial materials, semiconductors and conductors.
Fundamental and applied works including deposition techniques, stability of materials and devices, are of interest for this issue.

Dr. Stéphane Guillerez
Guest Editor

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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14 pages, 289 KB  
Article
Ultrafast Transient Spectroscopy of Polymer/Fullerene Blends for Organic Photovoltaic Applications
by Sanjeev Singh and Zeev Valy Vardeny
Materials 2013, 6(3), 897-910; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma6030897 - 6 Mar 2013
Cited by 18 | Viewed by 7194
Abstract
We measured the picoseconds (ps) transient dynamics of photoexcitations in blends of regio-regular poly(3-hexyl-thiophene) (RR-P3HT) (donors-D) and fullerene (PCBM) (acceptor-A) in an unprecedented broad spectral range of 0.25 to 2.5 eV. In D-A blends with maximum domain separation, such as RR-P3HT/PCBM, with (1.2:1) [...] Read more.
We measured the picoseconds (ps) transient dynamics of photoexcitations in blends of regio-regular poly(3-hexyl-thiophene) (RR-P3HT) (donors-D) and fullerene (PCBM) (acceptor-A) in an unprecedented broad spectral range of 0.25 to 2.5 eV. In D-A blends with maximum domain separation, such as RR-P3HT/PCBM, with (1.2:1) weight ratio having solar cell power conversion efficiency of ~4%, we found that although the intrachain excitons in the polymer domains decay within ~10 ps, no charge polarons are generated at their expense up to ~1 ns. Instead, there is a build-up of charge-transfer (CT) excitons at the D-A interfaces having the same kinetics as the exciton decay. The CT excitons dissociate into separate polarons in the D and A domains at a later time (>1 ns). This “two-step” charge photogeneration process may be typical in organic bulk heterojunction cells. We also report the effect of adding spin 1/2 radicals, Galvinoxyl on the ultrafast photoexcitation dynamics in annealed films of RR-P3HT/PCBM blend. The addition of Galvinoxyl radicals to the blend reduces the geminate recombination rate of photogenerated CT excitons. In addition, the photoexcitation dynamics in a new D-A blend of RR-P3HT/Indene C60 trisadduct (ICTA) has been studied and compared with the dynamics in RR-P3HT/PCBM. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Photovoltaic Materials)
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8 pages, 185 KB  
Article
Single Grain Boundary Modeling and Design of Microcrystalline Si Solar Cells
by Chu-Hsuan Lin, Wen-Tzu Hsu and Cheng-Hung Tai
Materials 2013, 6(1), 291-298; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma6010291 - 21 Jan 2013
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 5233
Abstract
For photovoltaic applications, microcrystalline silicon has a lot of advantages, such as the ability to absorb the near-infrared part of the solar spectrum. However, there are many dangling bonds at the grain boundary in microcrystalline Si. These dangling bonds would lead to the [...] Read more.
For photovoltaic applications, microcrystalline silicon has a lot of advantages, such as the ability to absorb the near-infrared part of the solar spectrum. However, there are many dangling bonds at the grain boundary in microcrystalline Si. These dangling bonds would lead to the recombination of photo-generated carriers and decrease the conversion efficiency. Therefore, we included the grain boundary in the numerical study in order to simulate a microcrystalline Si solar cell accurately, designing new three-terminal microcrystalline Si solar cells. The 3-μm-thick three-terminal cell achieved a conversion efficiency of 10.8%, while the efficiency of a typical two-terminal cell is 9.7%. The three-terminal structure increased the JSC but decreased the VOC, and such phenomena are discussed. High-efficiency and low-cost Si-based thin film solar cells can now be designed based on the information provided in this paper. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Photovoltaic Materials)
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14 pages, 664 KB  
Article
Roll-to-Roll Processing of Inverted Polymer Solar Cells using Hydrated Vanadium(V)Oxide as a PEDOT:PSS Replacement
by Nieves Espinosa, Henrik Friis Dam, David M. Tanenbaum, Jens W. Andreasen, Mikkel Jørgensen and Frederik C. Krebs
Materials 2011, 4(1), 169-182; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma4010169 - 11 Jan 2011
Cited by 68 | Viewed by 16218
Abstract
The use of hydrated vanadium(V)oxide as a replacement of the commonly employed hole transporting material PEDOT:PSS was explored in this work. Polymer solar cells were prepared by spin coating on glass. Polymer solar cells and modules comprising 16 serially connected cells were prepared [...] Read more.
The use of hydrated vanadium(V)oxide as a replacement of the commonly employed hole transporting material PEDOT:PSS was explored in this work. Polymer solar cells were prepared by spin coating on glass. Polymer solar cells and modules comprising 16 serially connected cells were prepared using full roll-to-roll (R2R) processing of all layers. The devices were prepared on flexible polyethyleneterphthalate (PET) and had the structure PET/ITO/ZnO/P3HT:PCBM/V2O5·(H2O)n/Ag. The ITO and silver electrodes were processed and patterned by use of screen printing. The zinc oxide, P3HT:PCBM and vanadium(V)oxide layers were processed by slot-die coating. The hydrated vanadium(V)oxide layer was slot-die coated using an isopropanol solution of vanadyl-triisopropoxide (VTIP). Coating experiments were carried out to establish the critical thickness of the hydrated vanadium(V)oxide layer by varying the concentration of the VTIP precursor over two orders of magnitude. Hydrated vanadium(V)oxide layers were characterized by profilometry, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and grazing incidence wide angle X-ray scattering. The power conversion efficiency (PCE) for completed modules was up to 0.18%, in contrast to single cells where efficiencies of 0.4% were achieved. Stability tests under indoor and outdoor conditions were accomplished over three weeks on a solar tracker. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Photovoltaic Materials)
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Review

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15 pages, 565 KB  
Review
Semiconductor Nanocrystals as Light Harvesters in Solar Cells
by Lioz Etgar
Materials 2013, 6(2), 445-459; https://doi.org/10.3390/ma6020445 - 4 Feb 2013
Cited by 74 | Viewed by 12938
Abstract
Photovoltaic cells use semiconductors to convert sunlight into electrical current and are regarded as a key technology for a sustainable energy supply. Quantum dot-based solar cells have shown great potential as next generation, high performance, low-cost photovoltaics due to the outstanding optoelectronic properties [...] Read more.
Photovoltaic cells use semiconductors to convert sunlight into electrical current and are regarded as a key technology for a sustainable energy supply. Quantum dot-based solar cells have shown great potential as next generation, high performance, low-cost photovoltaics due to the outstanding optoelectronic properties of quantum dots and their multiple exciton generation (MEG) capability. This review focuses on QDs as light harvesters in solar cells, including different structures of QD-based solar cells, such as QD heterojunction solar cells, QD-Schottky solar cells, QD-sensitized solar cells and the recent development in organic-inorganic perovskite heterojunction solar cells. Mechanisms, procedures, advantages, disadvantages and the latest results obtained in the field are described. To summarize, a future perspective is offered. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Photovoltaic Materials)
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