Spray-coating of PTB7-based solar cells, processed with non-chlorinated solvents

Aldo Di Carlo^a^,^b, Luigi Salamandra^a^,^b, Giuseppina Polino^a^,^b, Luca La Notte^a^,^b, Gianpaolo Susanna^a^,^b, Thomas M. Brown^a^,^b, Andrea Reale^a^,^b, Francesca Brunetti^a^,^b

^aC.H.O.S.E. – Center for Hybrid and Organic Solar Energy, via Giacomo Peroni 400, Rome, 131, Italy

^bDep. of Electronics Engineering, University of Rome “Tor Vergata”,, Via del Politecnico 1, Rome, 00133, Italy

International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics
Proceedings of International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics 2015 (HOPV15)

Roma, Italy, 2015 May 11th - 13th

Organizer: Filippo De Angelis

Poster, Gianpaolo Susanna, 260
Publication date: 5th February 2015

Low band-gap (LBG) polymer-based organic solar cells (OSCs) have gained significant attention in the last years, since the capability to achieve power conversion efficiencies (PCE) higher than 9% in a single stack device¹, and to overcome the 10% in a tandem structure². In addition the native possibility to scale up the fabrication process on large area³, also by spray-coating⁴, has made this technology desirable for low costs production.Spray-coating of LBG polymers with conventional chlorinated solvents has been already demonstrated with PCE up to 6.5%^5,6; but very recently the processabilityof the same kind of polymers has been shown doable also in chlorine-free solvents, even maintaining high PCE over the 8%⁷by spin coating.In this work we show a further step ahead in the feasibility of non-toxic production of OSCs, by applying the spray-coating technique to the LBG PBDTTT-E-F, commonly known as PTB7, dissolved in o-Xylene and all processed in air atmosphere. An accurate investigation on morphology, surface and thickness has been carried on several benches of samples with different time of spray. Inverted structured devices measured under AM1.5 Class A sun-simulator (100mWcm⁻²) showed average PCE over 7% (max 7.49%); to our knowledge it is the record PCE obtained by spray-coated devices with non-chlorinated solvents. Acknowledges This work was funding by the European Union under contract No.309201 “GO-NEXTs” and CHOSE (Centre for Hybrid and Organic Solar Energy) “Polo Solare Organico Regione Lazio” and University of Rome “Tor Vergata”.
J-V curve of a spray-coated inverted SCs made up from o-Xylene solution
1 He, Z.; Zhong C.; Su, S.; Xu, M.; Wu, H.; Cao, Y.. Enhanced power-conversion efficiency in polymer solar cells using an inverted device structure. Nature Photonics 2012,6,591. 2 You J.; Dou L.; Yoshimura K.; Kato T.; Ohya K.; Moriarty T. et al.. A polymer tandem solar cell with10.6% power conversion efficiency. Nat. Commun. 2013,4,1446. 3 Moulé A.J.. Power from plastic. Curr. Opin. Solid State Mater. Sci. 2010, 14, 123. 4 La Notte L.; Mineo D.; Polino G.; Susanna G.; Brunetti F.; Brown T.M.; Di Carlo A.; Reale A.. Fabrication of fully-sprayed organic photovoltaic modules by in-air automated process. Energy Technology, 2013, 12, 757. 5 Kumar P.; Kannappan S.; Ochiai S.; Shin P.-K.. Fabrication of PTB7:PC71BM Bulk Hetero Junction Polymer Solar Cells by Airbrush Spray-Coating Technique. Journal of the Korean Physical Society 2013, 62, 1169. 6 Tait J.G.; Wong C.; Cheyns D.; Turbiez M.; Rand B.P.; Heremans P.. Ultrasonic Spray Coating of 6.5% Efficient Diketopyrrolopyrrole-Based Organic Photovoltaics. IEEE Journal of photovoltaics 2014, 4, 1538 7 Susanna G.; Salamandra L.; Ciceroni C.; Mura F.; Brown T. M.; Reale A.; Rossi M.; Di Carlo A.; Brunetti F.. 8.7% Power conversion efficiency polymer solar cell realized with non-chlorinated solvents. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, 2015, 134, 194.

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