High efficient in air printed thick-film organic solar cells from non-halogenated solvents

Pavlo Perkhun^a, Yatzil Alejandra Avalos Quiroz^a, Anass Khodr^a^,^b, Hasan Alkhatib^b, Sadok Ben Dkhil^b, Noriyuki Yoshimoto^c, Olivier Margeat^a, Anil Kumar Bharwal^d, David Duché^d, Carmen Ruiz Herrero^d, Christine Videlot-Ackermann^a, Jean-Jacques Simon^d, Jörg Ackermann^a

^aAix Marseille Université, Campus Luminy, CNRS, CINaM, Marseille 13288, France #1, Marseille, France

^bDracula Technologies, Valence, France

^cDepartment of Materials Science and Engineering, Iwate University, Ueda Morioka 020 8551

^dAix Marseille University, CNRS UMR 7334, IM2NP, Marseille, France, France

Materials for Sustainable Development Conference (MATSUS)
Proceedings of nanoGe Fall Meeting 2021 (NFM21)

#NewOPV21. Advances in Organic Photovoltaics

Online, Spain, 2021 October 18th - 22nd

Organizers: Uli Würfel and Jörg Ackermann

Contributed talk, Pavlo Perkhun, presentation 208
DOI: https://doi.org/10.29363/nanoge.nfm.2021.208
Publication date: 23rd September 2021

The high-performance OSCs with the optimal thickness of 100 nm are strongly related to the nanoscale formation of BHJ during and after the processing. However, upscaling of such devices from the laboratory to the industrial environment demands to increase the thickness of the photoactive layer to gain robust printing processes. However, this may lead to serious losses in the efficiency of NFA-based solar cells [1] due to enhanced recombination induced by longer transport paths towards the electrodes in combination with reduced electric fields inside the device. Nevertheless, under low light conditions, thick photoactive blends exhibit less space charge effects, leading to less recombination of the charge carriers [2] which is simply connected to less photon flux produced by low-intensity indoor illumination. Furthermore, transfer to the less toxic processing is an essential requirement for scalable deposition techniques such as roll-to-roll or other printing techniques usually combined with photoactive layers with more than 200 nm thickness [3,4]. Previously, we showed that the highly efficient solar cells with thick photoactive layers can be obtained by inkjet printing [5]. In this work, the non-halogenated ink formulation was applied to doctor-blade in air PM6:ITIC-4F-based blends. In order to further approach the industrial relevant processing conditions, another promising wide band-gap polymer PTQ-10[6] was exploited due to the low cost, solubility in non-halogenated solvents [7], high efficiency, and thick layer potential processing of this material [6,8]. Identical ink formulations using o-xylene: tetralin mixture were applied to PTQ-10:ITIC-4F blends allowing to compare the performance of corresponding solar cells using thick blends as a function of donor polymer as well as thermal post-treatment. The photovoltaic properties of the solar cells were studied under two light sources, i.e. simulated AM 1.5G and indoor light at 200 Lux and 1000 Lux, to learn more about recombination losses in OSC using thick blends. Under optimal processing conditions, PM6:ITIC-4F blends produce solar cells with a PCE of 9.3 % for 300 nm thick layer under 1 sun illumination, respectively, while the use of thicker blend layers leads to lower efficiencies. In contrast, solar cells based on PTQ-10:ITIC-4F blends showed the highest PCE for 500 nm thick layer with a PCE of 11.3 % under 1 sun illumination and 15.71% under indoor light at 200 Lux.

References:

[1] Gao, J., Wang, J., Xu, C., Hu, Z., Ma, X., Zhang, X., Niu, L., Zhang, J., Zhang, F., 2020. A Critical Review on Efficient Thick‐Film Organic Solar Cells. Sol. RRL 4, 2000364.

[2] Hartnagel, P., Kirchartz, T., 2020. Understanding the Light‐Intensity Dependence of the Short‐Circuit Current of Organic Solar Cells. Adv. Theory Simul. 3, 2000116.

[3] Huang, H., Li, X., Sun, C., Angunawela, I., Qiu, B., Du, J., Qin, S., Meng, L., Zhang, Z., Ade, H., Li, Y., 2020. Green solvent-processed organic solar cells based on a low cost polymer donor and a small molecule acceptor. J. Mater. Chem. C 8, 7718–7724.

[4] Lee, B., Jeong, M., Lee, J., Oh, J., Cho, Y., Jung, S., Lee, S.M., Chen, S., Yang, C., 2019. Thick‐Film High‐Performance Solar Cells with a C 60 ‐Containing Polystyrene Additive. Sol. RRL 3, 1900033.

[5] Luo, Z., Sun, C., Chen, S., Zhang, Z.-G., Wu, K., Qiu, B., Yang, Changduk, Li, Y., Yang, Chuluo, 2018. Side-Chain Impact on Molecular Orientation of Organic Semiconductor Acceptors: High Performance Nonfullerene Polymer Solar Cells with Thick Active Layer over 400 nm. Adv. Energy Mater. 8, 1800856.

[6] Park, S.H., Park, S., Kurniawan, D., Son, J.G., Noh, J.H., Ahn, H., Son, H.J., 2020. Highly Efficient Large-Area Organic Photovoltaic Module with a 350 nm Thick Active Layer Using a Random Terpolymer Donor. Chem. Mater. 32, 3469–3479.

[7] Gao, J., Wang, J., Xu, C., Hu, Z., Ma, X., Zhang, X., Niu, L., Zhang, J., Zhang, F., 2020. A Critical Review on Efficient Thick‐Film Organic Solar Cells. Sol. RRL 4, 2000364. https://doi.org/10.1002/solr.202000364 Hartnagel, P., Kirchartz, T., 2020. Understanding the Light‐Intensity Dependence of the Short‐Circuit Current of Organic Solar Cells. Adv. Theory Simul. 3, 2000116. https://doi.org/10.1002/adts.202000116 Huang, H., Li, X., Sun, C., Angunawela, I., Qiu, B., Du, J., Qin, S., Meng, L., Zhang, Z., Ade, H., Li, Y., 2020. Green solvent-processed organic solar cells based on a low cost polymer donor and a small molecule acceptor. J. Mater. Chem. C 8, 7718–7724. https://doi.org/10.1039/D0TC01313G Lee, B., Jeong, M., Lee, J., Oh, J., Cho, Y., Jung, S., Lee, S.M., Chen, S., Yang, C., 2019. Thick‐Film High‐Performance Solar Cells with a C 60 ‐Containing Polystyrene Additive. Sol. RRL 3, 1900033. https://doi.org/10.1002/solr.201900033 Luo, Z., Sun, C., Chen, S., Zhang, Z.-G., Wu, K., Qiu, B., Yang, Changduk, Li, Y., Yang, Chuluo, 2018. Side-Chain Impact on Molecular Orientation of Organic Semiconductor Acceptors: High Performance Nonfullerene Polymer Solar Cells with Thick Active Layer over 400 nm. Adv. Energy Mater. 8, 1800856. https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.201800856 Park, S.H., Park, S., Kurniawan, D., Son, J.G., Noh, J.H., Ahn, H., Son, H.J., 2020. Highly Efficient Large-Area Organic Photovoltaic Module with a 350 nm Thick Active Layer Using a Random Terpolymer Donor. Chem. Mater. 32, 3469–3479. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater.9b05399 Perkhun, P., Köntges, W., Pourcin, F., Esteoulle, D., Barulina, E., Yoshimoto, N., Pierron, P., Margeat, O., Videlot-Ackermann, C., Bharwal, A.K., Duché, D., Herrero, C.R., Gonzales, C., Guerrero, A., Bisquert, J., Schröder, R.R., Pfannmöller, M., Ben Dkhil, S., Simon, J.-J., Ackermann, J., 2021. High‐Efficiency Digital Inkjet‐Printed Non‐Fullerene Polymer Blends Using Non‐Halogenated Solvents. Adv. Energy Sustain. Res. 2, 2000086.

[8] Sun, C., Pan, F., Bin, H., Zhang, J., Xue, L., Qiu, B., Wei, Z., Zhang, Z.-G., Li, Y., 2018. A low cost and high performance polymer donor material for polymer solar cells. Nat. Commun. 9, 743.

Acknowledgements:

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No713750. This project received also funding from the French Research Agency (project ANR-17-CE05-0020-01 named NFA-15) Also, it has been carried out with the financial support of the Regional Council of Provence- Alpes-Côte d’Azur and with the financial support of the A*MIDEX (n° ANR- 11-IDEX-0001-02), funded by the “Investissements d'Avenir” project funded by the French Government, managed by the French National Research Agency (ANR).

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