Analyzing the efficiency, stability and cost potential for fullerene-free organic photovoltaics in one Figure of Merit
Type
ArticleKAUST Department
Chemical Science ProgramKAUST Solar Center (KSC)
Physical Science and Engineering (PSE) Division
Date
2018Permanent link to this record
http://hdl.handle.net/10754/627384
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Show full item recordAbstract
The power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of solution-processed organic photovoltaics (OPV) devices continue increasing towards the 15% milestone. The recently-emerging non-fullerene acceptors (NFAs) have significantly accelerated this development. Most of the efficiency analyses performed previously are based on a fullerene acceptor without considering its contribution to the enhancement of photo-absorption and PCE. Moreover, the stability and cost potential of OPV devices are usually not discussed, which sometimes makes the efficiency prediction less representative for broad interest. In this work, we effectively combine the prediction of efficiencies with experimentally determined stability data to analyze and predict the commercial potential of a NFA-based OPV product. Assuming that NFAs dominate the blend near IR absorption, the efficiency limit of OPV devices is predicted to be close to 20% and is found to be insensitive to the donor bandgap. Along with the excellent photo-stability observed for state-of-the-art NFA-based OPV devices, it is suggested to design corresponding customized donors with promising processing properties, excellent environmental stability and low synthesis complexity as a realistic material pair for large-scale production and commercialization.Citation
Li N, McCulloch I, Brabec CJ (2018) Analyzing the efficiency, stability and cost potential for fullerene-free organic photovoltaics in one Figure of Merit. Energy & Environmental Science. Available: http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/c8ee00151k.Sponsors
This work was financially supported by the DFG research grant: BR 4031/13-1. N.L. acknowledges the financial support from the ETI funding at FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg and the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs and Media, Energy and Technology by funding the HIERN (IEK11) of FZ Jülich. C.J.B. gratefully acknowledges the financial support through the “Aufbruch Bayern” initiative of the state of Bavaria (EnCN and “Solar Factory of the Future”), the Bavarian Initiative “Solar Technologies go Hybrid” (SolTech), the SFB 953 (DFG), the Cluster of Excellence “Engineering of Advanced Materials” (EAM) at FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg (project EXC 315) (Bridge Funding).Publisher
Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)Journal
Energy & Environmental Scienceae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1039/c8ee00151k