15.9% organic tandem solar cell with extended near-infrared absorption
Abstract
Stacking single-junction organic solar cells is effective in increasing the power conversion efficiency (PCE) by reducing the thermalization loss and increasing the open circuit voltage. Recent developments of non-fullerene acceptors (NFAs) offer a range of materials whose energy gaps are suited for absorbing relatively narrow slices of the solar spectrum, thus easing requirements for current balance between sub-elements in multijunction stacks. Here, we demonstrate a solution-processed tandem organic solar cell comprising a binary, visible-absorbing sub-cell and a ternary near-infrared (NIR) absorbing sub-cell. The ternary NIR sub-cell utilizes a narrow energy gap NFA that enables a broadened and increased absorption compared to a binary NIR sub-cell. An isopropanol surface treatment is developed to connect the hydrophilic–hydrophobic surfaces in the charge recombination zone (CRZ) located between the sub-cells. The nearly optically and electrically lossless CRZ combined with an anti-reflection coating results in tandem organic photovoltaics with PCE = 15.9% ± 0.2% under AM 1.5G simulated illumination.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Apr 13, 2020
- Source ID
- 10.1063/5.0005172
Entities
People
- Bangjin Sun
- Chao Jiang
- Dejiu Fan
- Jian Fan
- Stephen R. Forrest
- Xinjing Huang
- Yongxi Li
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Department of Energy
- Universal Display Corporation
- University of Michigan