Organic Solar Cells at Stratospheric Condition for High Altitude Platform Station Application
Ram Datt a, Harrison Ka Hin Lee a b, Guichuan Zhang c d, Hin-Lap Yip d f, Wing Chung Tsoi a
a Faculty of Science and Engineering, Swansea University, Bay Campus, Swansea, SA1 8EN, UK
b Department of Physics and Materials Science and Centre for Functional Photonics (CFP), City University of Hong Kong, 83 Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon, Hong Kong, Hong Kong
c South China Normal University, South China Normal University, Panyu District, Guangzhou
d State Key Laboratory of Luminescent Materials and Devices, Institute of Polymer Optoelectronic Materials and Devices, School of Materials Science and Engineering, South China University of Technology, Wu Shan Lu, Guang Zhou Shi, China
e Department of Materials Science and Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, P6405, 6/F, Yeung Kin Man Academic Building, Kowloon, China
f City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Avenue, 83, Hong Kong, Hong Kong
International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics
Proceedings of International Conference on Hybrid and Organic Photovoltaics (HOPV23)
London, United Kingdom, 2023 June 12th - 14th
Organizers: Tracey Clarke, James Durrant and Trystan Watson
Poster, Ram Datt, 061
Publication date: 30th March 2023

Traditional inorganic photovoltaics (PV), such as silicon (Si), III-V multijunction, Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS), and Gallium arsenide (GeAs), have dominated for aerospace applications. However, Si-based PV is nonflexible and delivers specific power (SP) (power to mass ratio) of 0.38 W/g, and with the CIGS PV, the SP could be achieved up to 3 W/g.[1] The low SP and the material and fabrication cost of inorganic PV also are critical concerns. Recently the development of solution-processed organic photovoltaic (OPV) has shown advantages such as high absorption coefficient, compatibility with a flexible substrate, lightweight, low-cost, etc. [2] Moreover, OPV demonstrated a high SP up to 10-14 W/g.[3], [4] Although, these SP were calculated for low power conversion efficiency (PCE) material systems. Currently, OPV achieved PCE of over 20% with the incorporation of the non-fullerene-based small molecule acceptor, and high SP is believed to be obtained. To enter the market, a high-altitude platform station (HAPS) is the first place to start with. The HAPS environmental condition includes high temperature variation (-20 to 10 oC on average daytime, and up to -85 oC in night-time), ultra-violet (UV) rich solar radiations (AM0, 1366.1 W/m2), and low pressure (1 to 250 mbar).[5] In this work, we explore and compare the in-situ performance of two high-performing OPV, using the same donor (PM6) but different acceptors (IT-4F and Y6), in a mimic HAPS environment where the pressure, temperature and illumination conditions are controlled for the first time. It is found that PM6: Y6 device performed well, and the PCE dropped between -20 to 10 oC is negligible. Whereas, for PM6: IT-4F device, the PCE dropped almost 12% at -20 oC compared to its peak value (at 20 oC). Moreover, at -80 oC the PM6: Y6 device could still hold up to 68% of its initial value (at 20 oC). Whereas PM6: IT-4F device remained 50% of PCE under similar conditions. The major drops came into Jsc and FF under the low temperature of PM6: IT-4F device. We found that the use of an acceptor can result in a substantial difference in performance at low temperatures.  In conclusion, the PM6: Y6 device performed well and showed the promising performance under HAPS temperature environmental conditions. This work provides an in-strength study on a benchmark OPV based on PM6: Y6 system and highlights its great potential for HAPS or even space applications.

R.D. sincerely acknowledges the SPECIFIC Innovation and Knowledge Centre (EP/N020863/1) and ATIP (EP/T028513/1) grant for providing financial support. Hin-Lap Yip acknowledges the financial support by the Guangdong Major Project of Basic and Applied Basic Research (No. 2019B030302007); the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (No. 2019YFA0705900). Guichuan Zhang acknowledges the financial support by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51903095) and the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (No. 2021A1515010959).

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