Reliability of Small Molecule Organic Photovoltaics with Electron-Filtering Compound Buffer Layers
Abstract
Electron-filtering compound buffer layers (EF-CBLs) improve charge extraction in organic photovoltaic cells (OPVs) by blending an electron-conducting fullerene with a wide energy gap exciton-blocking molecule. It is found that devices with EF-CBLs with high glass transition temperatures and a low crystallization rate produce highly stable morphologies and devices. The most stable OPVs employ 1:1 2,2',2"-(1,3,5-benzenetriyl tris-[1-phenyl-1H-benzimidazole] TPBi:C70 buffers that lose <20% of their initial power conversion efficiency of 6.6 ± 0.6% after 2700 h under continuous simulated AM1.5G illumination, and show no significant degradation after 100 days of outdoor aging. When exposed to 100-sun (100 kW m-2) concentrated solar illumination for 5 h, their power conversion efficiencies decrease by <8%. Moreover, it is found that the reliability of the devices employing stable EF-CBLs has either reduced or no dependence on operating temperature up to 130 °C compared with BPhen:C60 devices whose fill factors show thermally activated degradation. The robustness of TPBi:C70 devices under extreme aging conditions including outdoor exposure, high temperature, and concentrated illumination is promising for the future of OPV as a stable solar cell technology.
- Authors:
-
- Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States). Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
- Ben-Gurion Univ. of the Negev, Sede Boqer (Israel). Dept. of Solar Energy and Environmental Physics. Jacob Blaustein Inst. for Desert Research
- Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States). Dept. of Chemistry
- Ben-Gurion Univ. of the Negev, Sede Boqer (Israel). Dept. of Solar Energy and Environmental Physics. Jacob Blaustein Inst. for Desert Research; Ben-Gurion Univ. of the Negev, Be'er Sheva (Israel). Ilse Katz Inst. of Nano-Science and Technology
- Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States). Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering. Dept. of Physics
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1533060
- Grant/Contract Number:
- EE0005310; EE0006708
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Advanced Energy Materials
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 6; Journal Issue: 21; Journal ID: ISSN 1614-6832
- Publisher:
- Wiley
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 14 SOLAR ENERGY; degradation; solar cells; thermal activation
Citation Formats
Burlingame, Quinn, Song, Byeongseop, Ciammaruchi, Laura, Zanotti, Gloria, Hankett, Jeanne, Chen, Zhan, Katz, Eugene A., and Forrest, Stephen R. Reliability of Small Molecule Organic Photovoltaics with Electron-Filtering Compound Buffer Layers. United States: N. p., 2016.
Web. doi:10.1002/aenm.201601094.
Burlingame, Quinn, Song, Byeongseop, Ciammaruchi, Laura, Zanotti, Gloria, Hankett, Jeanne, Chen, Zhan, Katz, Eugene A., & Forrest, Stephen R. Reliability of Small Molecule Organic Photovoltaics with Electron-Filtering Compound Buffer Layers. United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.201601094
Burlingame, Quinn, Song, Byeongseop, Ciammaruchi, Laura, Zanotti, Gloria, Hankett, Jeanne, Chen, Zhan, Katz, Eugene A., and Forrest, Stephen R. Fri .
"Reliability of Small Molecule Organic Photovoltaics with Electron-Filtering Compound Buffer Layers". United States. https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.201601094. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1533060.
@article{osti_1533060,
title = {Reliability of Small Molecule Organic Photovoltaics with Electron-Filtering Compound Buffer Layers},
author = {Burlingame, Quinn and Song, Byeongseop and Ciammaruchi, Laura and Zanotti, Gloria and Hankett, Jeanne and Chen, Zhan and Katz, Eugene A. and Forrest, Stephen R.},
abstractNote = {Electron-filtering compound buffer layers (EF-CBLs) improve charge extraction in organic photovoltaic cells (OPVs) by blending an electron-conducting fullerene with a wide energy gap exciton-blocking molecule. It is found that devices with EF-CBLs with high glass transition temperatures and a low crystallization rate produce highly stable morphologies and devices. The most stable OPVs employ 1:1 2,2',2"-(1,3,5-benzenetriyl tris-[1-phenyl-1H-benzimidazole] TPBi:C70 buffers that lose <20% of their initial power conversion efficiency of 6.6 ± 0.6% after 2700 h under continuous simulated AM1.5G illumination, and show no significant degradation after 100 days of outdoor aging. When exposed to 100-sun (100 kW m-2) concentrated solar illumination for 5 h, their power conversion efficiencies decrease by <8%. Moreover, it is found that the reliability of the devices employing stable EF-CBLs has either reduced or no dependence on operating temperature up to 130 °C compared with BPhen:C60 devices whose fill factors show thermally activated degradation. The robustness of TPBi:C70 devices under extreme aging conditions including outdoor exposure, high temperature, and concentrated illumination is promising for the future of OPV as a stable solar cell technology.},
doi = {10.1002/aenm.201601094},
journal = {Advanced Energy Materials},
number = 21,
volume = 6,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Aug 05 00:00:00 EDT 2016},
month = {Fri Aug 05 00:00:00 EDT 2016}
}
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