scholarly journals Stability of High Band Gap P3HT : PCBM Organic Solar Cells Using TiOxInterfacial Layer

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kurniawan Foe ◽  
Gon Namkoong ◽  
Matthew Samson ◽  
Enas M. Younes ◽  
Ilho Nam ◽  
...  

We fabricated a poly[3-hexylthiophene] (P3HT) and [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PC61BM) organic photovoltaic cells (OPCs) using TiOxinterfacial layer. We performed optimization processes for P3HT : PC61BM with the TiOxlayer. We found that a solution based TiOxlayer coated at a spin speed of 3000 rpm improved the photon absorption of the active layer. An optimized TiOxlayer was also used as the interfacial layer to investigate the stability of P3HT : PC61BM OPC. After 70 days of storage, we observed that the short-circuit current density (JSC) dropped by 16.2%, fill factor (FF) dropped by 10.6%, and power conversion efficiency (PCE) dropped approximately by 25%, while the open-circuit voltage (VOC) remained relatively stable. We found that a solution based TiOxlayer synthesized using a sol-gel chemistry method was very effective in protecting the active layer from degradation.

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 13
Author(s):  
Shobih Shobih ◽  
Rizky Abdillah ◽  
Erlyta Septa Rosa

Hybrid polymer solar cell has privilege than its conventional structure, where it usually has structure of (ITO/PEDOT:PSS/Active Layer/Al). In humid environment the PEDOT:PSS will absorb water and hence can easily etch the ITO. Therefore it is necessary to use an alternative method to avoid this drawback and obtain more stable polymer solar cells, namely by using hybrid polymer solar cells structure with an inverted device architecture from the conventional, by reversing the nature of charge collection. In this paper we report the results of the fabrication of inverted bulk heterojunction polymer solar cells based on P3HT:PCBM as active layer, utilizing ZnO interlayer as buffer layer between the ITO and active layer with a stacked structure of ITO/ZnO/P3HT:PCBM/PEDOT:PSS/Ag. The ZnO interlayer is formed through short route, i.e. by dissolving ZnO nanoparticles powder in chloroform-methanol solvent blend rather than by sol-gel process. Based on the measurement results on electrical characteristics of inverted polymer solar cells under 500 W/m2 illumination and AM 1.5 direct filter at room temperature, cell with annealing process of active layer at 110 °C for 10 minutes results in higher cell performance than without annealing, with an open-circuit voltage of 0.21 volt, a short-circuit current density of 1.33 mA/cm2 , a fill factor of 43.1%, and a power conversion efficiency of 0.22%. The low cell’s performance is caused by very rough surface of ZnO interlayer.


2012 ◽  
Vol 535-537 ◽  
pp. 1258-1261
Author(s):  
Nan Hai Sun ◽  
Xiao Ying Chang

Phase separation of the poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester(PCBM) active layer (ATL) was investigated by varying their relative ratio in the organic solar cells (OSCs).With the help of the UV/visible spectrophotometer, optical microscopy and scanning electron microscope,we found that the cluster of PCBM at the interface or surface was affected by Al cathode, the composition of the blends and thermal annealing. The disc-like shape crystals of PCBM substituted for the needle-like ones at higher PCBM compositions at the ATL/Al interface, which led to stronger contacts and bigger contact area. It could make short circuit current density increase, but may affect the blend morphology and result in parallel resistance and open circuit voltage decreased with the PCBM ratio increasing from 40 to 60%. The microstructure of the P3HT:PCBM ATL, determined by the composition dependent phase separation, supported the optimized performance of the OSCs with the composition of 40–50% PCBM.


2012 ◽  
Vol 209-211 ◽  
pp. 1801-1804
Author(s):  
Jian Min Ye ◽  
Nan Hai Sun

Phase separation of the poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester(PCBM) active layer (ATL) was investigated by varying their relative ratio in the organic solar cells (OSCs).With the help of the UV/visible spectrophotometer, optical microscopy and scanning electron microscope,we found that the cluster of PCBM at the interface or surface was affected by Al cathode, the composition of the blends and thermal annealing. The disc-like shape crystals of PCBM substituted for the needle-like ones at higher PCBM compositions at the ATL/Al interface, which led to stronger contacts and bigger contact area. It could make short circuit current density increase, but may affect the blend morphology and result in parallel resistance and open circuit voltage decreased with the PCBM ratio increasing from 40 to 60%. The microstructure of the P3HT:PCBM ATL, determined by the composition dependent phase separation, supported the optimized performance of the OSCs with the composition of 40–50% PCBM.


Author(s):  
Nur Shakina Mohd Shariff ◽  
Puteri Sarah Mohamad Saad ◽  
Mohamad Rusop Mahmood

There has been an increasing interest towards organic solar cells after the discovery of conjugated polymer and bulk-heterojunction concept. Eventhough organic solar cells are less expensive than inorganic solar cells but the power conversion energy is still considered low. The main objective of this research is to investigate the effect of the P3HT’s thickness and concentration towards the efficiency of the P3HT:Graphene solar cells. A simulation software that is specialize for photovoltaic called SCAPS is used in this research to simulate the effect on the solar cells. The solar cell’s structure will be drawn inside the simulation and the parameters for each layers is inserted. The result such as the open circuit voltage (Voc), short circuit current density (Jsc), fill factor (FF), efficiency (η), capacitance-voltage (C-V) and capacitance-frequency (C-f) characteristic will be calculated by the software and all the results will be put into one graph.


2012 ◽  
Vol 550-553 ◽  
pp. 476-479
Author(s):  
Ai Fen Wang

The three photovoltaic cells with two different anode buffer layer on the basis of Pentacene/C60 as active layer was fabicated, the effect and mechanism of anode buffer layer on performance of organic photovoltaic cell are explored. The experimental result shows transition metal oxide inserted between organic active layer and ITO could increase short circuit current and open-circuit voltage,power conversion efficiency is increased to 107%,so it is effective anode buffer material.


Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 450 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miron Krassas ◽  
Christos Polyzoidis ◽  
Pavlos Tzourmpakis ◽  
Dimitriοs M. Kosmidis ◽  
George Viskadouros ◽  
...  

A conjugated, ladder-type multi-fused ring 4,7-dithienbenzothiadiazole:thiophene derivative, named as compound ‘T’, was for the first time incorporated, within the PTB7:PC71BM photoactive layer for inverted ternary organic solar cells (TOSCs) realization. The effective energy level offset caused by compound T between the polymeric donor and fullerene acceptor materials, as well as its resulting potential as electron cascade material contribute to an enhanced exciton dissociation, electron transfer facilitator and thus improved overall photovoltaic performance. The engineering optimization of the inverted TOSC, ITO/PFN/PTB7:Compound T(5% v/v):PC71BM/MoO3/Al, resulted in an overall power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 8.34%, with a short-circuit current density (Jsc) of 16.75 mA cm−2, open-circuit voltage (Voc) of 0.74 V and a fill factor (FF) of 68.1%, under AM1.5G illumination. This photovoltaic performance was improved by approximately 12% with respect to the control binary device.


2011 ◽  
Vol 10 (04n05) ◽  
pp. 803-807
Author(s):  
T. S. KRISHNAN ◽  
S. SUNDAR KUMAR IYER

This work addresses the shelf life characteristics of P3HT: PCBM blend based organic solar cells (OSC) fabricated with Ca–Al and LiF–Al cathodes. Some of these devices are encapsulated in nitrogen ambient and some in room ambient. Device electrical characteristics are studied under both dark and light. In the analysis under dark ambient conditions, the degradation in peak dark current is monitored over time (in days) and an empirical model is postulated for the degradation based on statistical curve fitting techniques. In the analysis under light, degradation of parameters such as fill factor (FF), open circuit voltage (V oc ) and short circuit current density (J sc ) is monitored over time in these devices (for different cathodes and different ambients) and the results are analyzed and compared. Also, accelerated stress tests are conducted wherein the devices are subjected to continuous illumination for a period of 1.5 h under two different intensities (0.76 sun and 1 sun) and again, the results are analyzed and compared. A model is fitted to the observed degradation in normalized J sc and the degradation constants (k deg ) are obtained. It is seen that the devices fabricated with cathode as LiF–Al and being encapsulated in nitrogen ambient provide the best performance over time.


2015 ◽  
Vol 22 (06) ◽  
pp. 1550072
Author(s):  
SUDIP ADHIKARI ◽  
HIDEO UCHIDA ◽  
MASAYOSHI UMENO

In this paper, composite carbon nanotubes (C-CNTs); single-walled CNTs (SWCNTs) and multi-walled CNTs (MWCNTs) are synthesized using an ultrasonic nebulizer in a large quartz tube for photovoltaic device fabrication in poly-3-octyl-thiophene (P3OT)/ n - Si heterojunction solar cells. We found that the device fabricated with C-CNTs shows much better photovoltaic performance than that of a device without C-CNTs. The device with C-CNTs shows open-circuit voltage (Voc) of 0.454 V, a short circuit current density (Jsc) of 12.792 mA/cm2, fill factor (FF) of 0.361 and power conversion efficiency of 2.098 %. Here, we proposed that SWCNTs and MWCNTs provide efficient percolation paths for both electron and hole transportation to opposite electrodes and leading to the suppression of charge carrier recombination, thereby increasing the photovoltaic device performance.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-148
Author(s):  
Abdul Halim Ikram Mohamed ◽  
Mohd Lukman Inche Ibrahim

We investigate how an enhanced light absorption at a specific position inside the active layer affects the performance of organic photovoltaic cells (OPVs), namely the short-circuit current density ( ), the open-circuit voltage ( ), the fill factor (FF), and the power conversion efficiency (PCE). The performance is calculated using an updated version of a previously published analytical current-voltage model for OPVs, where the updated model allows the light absorption profile to be described by any functions provided that analytical solutions can be produced. We find that the light absorption profile affects the performance through the drift current. When the mobility imbalance is not very high (when the ratio of the mobility of the faster carrier type to the mobility of the slower carrier type is less than about ), the PCE is maximized when the light absorption is concentrated at the center of the active layer. When the mobility imbalance is very high (when the ratio of the mobility of the faster carrier type to the mobility of the slower carrier type is more than approximately ), the PCE is maximized when the light absorption is concentrated near the electrode collecting the slower carrier type. Therefore, it is important to ensure that the light absorption profile is properly tuned so that the performance of OPVs is maximized. Moreover, any efforts that we make to improve the performance should not lead to a light absorption profile that would actually impair the overall performance. ABSTRAK: Kajian ini menilai bagaimana penyerapan cahaya yang tinggi pada bahagian tertentu lapisan aktif mempengaruhi prestasi sel fotovoltaik organik (OPV), iaitu ketumpatan arus litar pintas (Jsc), voltan litar terbuka (Voc), faktor pengisian (FF), dan kecekapan penukaran kuasa (PCE). Prestasi dikira mengguna pakai model terkini yang diperbaharui dari model asal analitikal OPV voltan-arus, di mana model ini membenarkan mana-mana profil penyerapan cahaya digunakan asalkan penyelesaian analitikal terhasil.  Dapatan kajian mendapati profil penyerapan cahaya mempengaruhi prestasi berdasarkan arus hanyut. Apabila ketidakseimbangan pergerakan caj tidak begitu tinggi (di mana nisbah pergerakan pembawa caj laju kepada perlahan adalah kurang daripada 103), PCE menjadi maksimum jika penyerapan cahaya bertumpu pada tengah lapisan aktif. Apabila ketidakseimbangan pergerakan caj sangat tinggi (di mana nisbah pergerakan pembawa caj laju kepada perlahan adalah lebih daripada 104), PCE menjadi maksimum jika penyerapan cahaya bertumpu pada elektrod yang mengutip pembawa caj perlahan. Oleh itu, kedudukan talaan profil penyerapan cahaya yang tepat adalah sangat penting bagi menentukan prestasi OPV dimaksimumkan. Tambahan, apa sahaja usaha penambahbaikan prestasi seharusnya tidak menyebabkan pengurangan keseluruhan prestasi profil penyerapan cahaya.


2015 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 139
Author(s):  
Tran Thi Thao ◽  
Vu Thi Hai ◽  
Nguyen Nang Dinh ◽  
Le Dinh Trong

By using spin-coating technique, a low bandgap conjugated polymer, poly[2,6-(4,4-bis-(2-ethylhexyl)-4H-cyclopen-ta[2,1-b;3,4-b′]dithiophene)-alt-4,7-(2,1,3-benzothiadiazole)] (PCPDTBT)  and its composite thin films have been prepared. The optical absorption and photoconductive properties with over a wide spectral range, from 350 to 950  nm, were characterized. The obtained results showed that PCPDTBT:10 wt% CdSe  composite is the most suitable for efficient light-harvesting in polymer-based photovoltaic cells. The photoelectrical conversion efficiency (PCE) of the device with  a multilayer structure of ITO/PEDOT/ PCPDTBT:CdSe /LiF/Al  reached a value as large as 1.34% with an open-circuit voltage (Voc) = 0.57 V, a short-circuit current density (Jsc) = 4.29 mA/cm2, and a fill factor (FF) = 0.27. This suggests a useful application in further fabrication of quantum dots/polymers based solar cells.


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