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Molecules
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Nanomaterials and Interfaces for Next Generation Photovoltaics
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Nanomaterials and Interfaces for Next Generation Photovoltaics

A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Materials Chemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2020) | Viewed by 8616

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Bruno Pignataro

E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
Department of Physics and Chemistry-Emilio Segrè, University of Palermo, viale delle Scienze, bdg. 17, 90128 Palermo, Italy
Interests: biotechnologies for medicinal chemistry; inorganic and hybrid nanomaterials and surface enhanced properties; nanotechnologies for organic/plastic electronics

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Emerging next-generation photovoltaic technologies, including organic solar cells (OSCs), dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), and perovskite solar cells (PSCs), are receiving increasing attention from the scientific community as they combine low-cost fabrication methods with new market-appealing features such as flexibility, lightness, and semitransparency. Next-generation photovoltaics already found very promising applications in wearable energy resources, building-integrated photovoltaics, portable and biocompatible devices, etc. The development of innovative molecular and hybrid nanosystems, as well as the incessant optimization of thin films and interfaces, has enabled tremendous technological progression, both in terms of photovoltaic performance and application scenarios. This Special Issue aims at highlighting the most recent and significant advances in OSCs, DSSCs, and PSCs, with a major focus on possible strategies to further improve their power conversion efficiency, stability, transparency, and production costs from the perspective of large-scale commercialization in the foreseeable future.

Prof. Bruno Pignataro
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • Nanomaterials
  • interfaces
  • organic solar cells
  • plastic solar cells
  • donor
  • acceptor
  • dye
  • hybrid material
  • fullerene acceptor
  • non-fullerene acceptor
  • electron transport layer (ETL)
  • hole transport layer (HTL)
  • bulk heterojunction
  • planar heterojunction
  • charge generation
  • recombination
  • charge mobility
  • multiphonon transition
  • transparent and/or flexible electrode
  • morphology
  • in silico investigation
  • efficiency
  • aging
  • compatibilizer
  • three components solar cells
  • semitransparent organic solar cells
  • wearable energy sources
  • building-integrated photovoltaics
  • multi-junction solar cells
  • flexible
  • portable
  • biocompatible solar cells

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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14 pages, 1839 KiB  
Article
Effects of Intra- and Interchain Interactions on Exciton Dynamics of PTB7 Revealed by Model Oligomers
by Thomas J. Fauvell, Zhengxu Cai, Matthew S. Kirschner, Waleed Helweh, Pyosang Kim, Tianyue Zheng, Richard D. Schaller, Luping Yu and Lin X. Chen
Molecules 2020, 25(10), 2441; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules25102441 - 23 May 2020
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3797
Abstract
Recent studies have shown that molecular aggregation structures in precursor solutions of organic photovoltaic (OPV) polymers have substantial influence on polymer film morphology, exciton and charge carrier transport dynamics, and hence, the resultant device performance. To distinguish photophysical impacts due to increasing π-conjugation [...] Read more.
Recent studies have shown that molecular aggregation structures in precursor solutions of organic photovoltaic (OPV) polymers have substantial influence on polymer film morphology, exciton and charge carrier transport dynamics, and hence, the resultant device performance. To distinguish photophysical impacts due to increasing π-conjugation from chain lengthening and π–π stacking from single/multi chain aggregation in solution and film, we used oligomers of a well-studied charge transfer polymer PTB7 with different lengths as models to reveal intrinsic photophysical properties of a conjugated segment in the absence of inter-segment aggregation. In comparison with previously studied photophysical properties in polymeric PTB7, we found that oligomer dynamics are dominated by a process of planarization of the conjugated backbone into a quinoidal structure that resembles the self-folded polymer and that, when its emission is isolated, this quinoidal excited state resembling the planar polymer chain exhibits substantial charge transfer character via solvent-dependent emission shifts. Furthermore, the oligomers distinctly lack the long-lived charge separated species characteristic of PTB7, suggesting that the progression from charge transfer character in isolated chains to exciton splitting in neat polymer solution is modulated by the interchain interactions enabled by self-folding. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nanomaterials and Interfaces for Next Generation Photovoltaics)
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Review

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39 pages, 7899 KiB  
Review
Tackling Performance Challenges in Organic Photovoltaics: An Overview about Compatibilizers
by Aurelio Bonasera, Giuliana Giuliano, Giuseppe Arrabito and Bruno Pignataro
Molecules 2020, 25(9), 2200; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules25092200 - 8 May 2020
Cited by 20 | Viewed by 4377
Abstract
Organic Photovoltaics (OPVs) based on Bulk Heterojunction (BHJ) blends are a mature technology. Having started their intensive development two decades ago, their low cost, processability and flexibility rapidly funneled the interest of the scientific community, searching for new solutions to expand solar photovoltaics [...] Read more.
Organic Photovoltaics (OPVs) based on Bulk Heterojunction (BHJ) blends are a mature technology. Having started their intensive development two decades ago, their low cost, processability and flexibility rapidly funneled the interest of the scientific community, searching for new solutions to expand solar photovoltaics market and promote sustainable development. However, their robust implementation is hampered by some issues, concerning the choice of the donor/acceptor materials, the device thermal/photo-stability, and, last but not least, their morphology. Indeed, the morphological profile of BHJs has a strong impact over charge generation, collection, and recombination processes; control over nano/microstructural morphology would be desirable, aiming at finely tuning the device performance and overcoming those previously mentioned critical issues. The employ of compatibilizers has emerged as a promising, economically sustainable, and widely applicable approach for the donor/acceptor interface (D/A-I) optimization. Thus, improvements in the global performance of the devices can be achieved without making use of more complex architectures. Even though several materials have been deeply documented and reported as effective compatibilizing agents, scientific reports are quite fragmentary. Here we would like to offer a panoramic overview of the literature on compatibilizers, focusing on the progression documented in the last decade. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nanomaterials and Interfaces for Next Generation Photovoltaics)
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