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A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (25 November 2017) | Viewed by 77908

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Prof. Dr. Zhan'ao Tan

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Beijing Key Laboratory of Novel Thin-Film Solar Cells, North China Electric Power University, Beijing 102206, China
Interests: polymer solar cells; perovskite solar cell; organic-inorganic hybrid optoelectronics
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Polymer solar cells have been considered as an attractive and promising approach to solve energy and environment issues, due to their light-weight, low-cost, flexibility, rapid energy payback time, and high-throughput roll-to-roll manufacturing. Remarkable progress has been achieved in recent years, such as benefits from the innovation of donor and acceptor materials, design of new device architectures, optimization of the photoactive layer morphology, interface engineering between the active layer and electrodes, and power conversion efficiency has been pushed beyond 12%. This Special Issue on “Polymer Solar Cells” aims to reflect the state-of-the-art topics and progress in the design and synthesis of novel organic electron donor and acceptor materials, photoactive layer morphology controlling, electrodes modification, device photophysics and characterization, the design and fabrication of novel device architectures, etc. Contributions of experimental work, computational work, or combinations of the two, are welcome, and your contribution to this Special Issue will be greatly appreciated.

Prof. Dr. Zhan'ao Tan
Guest Editor

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Keywords

Polymer solar cells
Electron donor
Electron acceptor
Morphology
Interface engineering
Electrode modification
Device architecture
Photoactive layer
Photophysics

Published Papers (12 papers)

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Research

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13 pages, 5080 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Inverted Organic Solar Cells with Low-Temperature Al-Doped-ZnO Electron Transport Layer Processed from Aqueous Solution

by Qianni Zhang, Ruizhi Peng, Chunfu Zhang, Dazheng Chen, Zhenhua Lin, Jingjing Chang, Jincheng Zhang and Yue Hao

Polymers 2018, 10(2), 127; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym10020127 - 28 Jan 2018

Cited by 23 | Viewed by 7546

Abstract

The aqueous-based Zn-ammine complex solutions represent one of the most promising routes to obtain the ZnO electron transport layer (ETL) at a low temperature in inverted organic solar cells (OSCs). However, to dope the ZnO film processed from the Zn-ammine complex solutions is difficult since the introduction of metal ions into the Zn-ammine complex is a nontrivial process as ammonium hydroxide tends to precipitate metal salts due to acid-base neutralization reactions. In this paper, we investigate the inverted OSCs with Al-doped-ZnO ETL made by immersion of metallic Al into the Zn-ammine precursor solution. The effects of ZnO layer with different immersion time of Al on film properties and solar cell performance have been studied. The results show that, with the Al-doped-ZnO ETL, an improvement of the device performance could be obtained compared with the device with the un-doped ZnO ETL. The improved device performance is attributed to the enhancement of charge carrier mobility leading to a decreased charge carrier recombination and improved charge collection efficiency. The fabricated thin film transistors with the same ZnO or AZO films confirm the improved electrical characteristics of the Al doped ZnO film. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymer Solar Cells)

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2193 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Theoretical Evaluation of the Influence of Molecular Packing Mode on the Intramolecular Reorganization Energy of Oligothiophene Molecules

by Bing Zhang, Yingxue Xu, Lilin Zhu, Shijie Zhou, Yinjie Liao, Kaixuan Zhou, Jianxi Yao and Songyuan Dai

Polymers 2018, 10(1), 30; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym10010030 - 27 Dec 2017

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 5902

Abstract

Accurate determination of the relationships among packing mode, molecular structure and charge transfer mobility for oligothiophene analogues has been significantly impeded, due to the lack of crystal structure information. In the current study, molecular dynamics (MD) were used to investigate the packing mode of non-, methyl- and ethyl-substituted poly(3-alkylthiophenes) (P3ATs). Obvious conformational changes were observed when comparing the packed and isolated oligothiophene molecules, indicating the important influence of packing mode on the geometric structures of these materials. Considering the crucial role played by reorganization energy (RE) in the charge transfer process, both quantum mechanics (QM) and quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics (QM/MM) were performed to examine the impact of different conformations on energy. Our simulations revealed that the geometric structures have distinct effects on the RE. Our data suggest that MD could give a reliable packing mode of oligothiophene analogues, and that QM/MM is indispensable for precisely estimating RE. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymer Solar Cells)

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3659 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Passivating ZnO Surface States by C60 Pyrrolidine Tris-Acid for Hybrid Solar Cells Based on Poly(3-hexylthiophene)/ZnO Nanorod Arrays

by Peng Zhong, Xiaohua Ma and He Xi

Polymers 2018, 10(1), 4; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym10010004 - 21 Dec 2017

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 5113

Abstract

Construction of ordered electron acceptors is a feasible way to solve the issue of phase separation in polymer solar cells by using vertically-aligned ZnO nanorod arrays (NRAs). However, the inert charge transfer between conducting polymer and ZnO limits the performance enhancement of this type of hybrid solar cells. In this work, a fullerene derivative named C60 pyrrolidine tris-acid is used to modify the interface of ZnO/poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT). Results indicate that the C60 modification passivates the surface defects of ZnO and improves its intrinsic fluorescence. The quenching efficiency of P3HT photoluminescence is enhanced upon C60 functionalization, suggesting a more efficient charge transfer occurs across the modified P3HT/ZnO interface. Furthermore, the fullerene modified hybrid solar cell based on P3HT/ZnO NRAs displays substantially-enhanced performance as compared to the unmodified one and the devices with other modifiers, which is contributed to retarded recombination and enhanced exciton separation as evidenced by electrochemical impedance spectra. Therefore, fullerene passivation is a promising method to ameliorate the connection between conjugated polymers and metal oxides, and is applicable in diverse areas, such as solar cells, transistors, and light-emitting dioxides. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymer Solar Cells)

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6554 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Non-Fullerene Acceptor-Based Solar Cells: From Structural Design to Interface Charge Separation and Charge Transport

by Qungui Wang, Yuanzuo Li, Peng Song, Runzhou Su, Fengcai Ma and Yanhui Yang

Polymers 2017, 9(12), 692; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym9120692 - 08 Dec 2017

Cited by 30 | Viewed by 7170

Abstract

The development of non-fullerene small molecule as electron acceptors is critical for overcoming the shortcomings of fullerene and its derivatives (such as limited absorption of light, poor morphological stability and high cost). We investigated the electronic and optical properties of the two selected promising non-fullerene acceptors (NFAs), IDIC and IDTBR, and five conjugated donor polymers using quantum-chemical method (QM). Based on the optimized structures of the studied NFAs and the polymers, the ten donor/acceptor (D/A) interfaces were constructed and investigated using QM and Marcus semi-classical model. Firstly, for the two NFAs, IDTBR displays better electron transport capability, better optical absorption ability, and much greater electron mobility than IDIC. Secondly, the configurations of D/A yield the more bathochromic-shifted and broader sunlight absorption spectra than the single moiety. Surprisingly, although IDTBR has better optical properties than IDIC, the IDIC-based interfaces possess better electron injection abilities, optical absorption properties, smaller exciton binding energies and more effective electronic separation than the IDTBR-based interfaces. Finally, all the polymer/IDIC interfaces exhibit large charge separation rate (K_CS) (up to 10¹²–10¹⁴ s⁻¹) and low charge recombination rate (K_CR) (<10⁶ s⁻¹), which are more likely to result in high power conversion efficiencies (PCEs). From above analysis, it was found that the polymer/IDIC interfaces should display better performance in the utility of bulk-heterojunction solar cells (BHJ OSC) than polymer/IDTBR interfaces. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymer Solar Cells)

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2783 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Comprehensive Study on Chemical and Hot Press-Treated Silver Nanowires for Efficient Polymer Solar Cell Application

by Yang-Yen Yu, Yo-Jen Ting, Chung-Lin Chung, Tzung-Wei Tsai and Chih-Ping Chen

Polymers 2017, 9(11), 635; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym9110635 - 22 Nov 2017

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 6298

Abstract

In this study, chemical treatment (CT; oxidation–reduction method) and physical treatment (HP; hot-pressing methods) were applied to improve the performance of silver nanowire (AgNW)-derived electrodes on a glass or flexible polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate. The four-point probe method, UV-Vis spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to measure the properties of AgNW electrodes and compare them with those of indium tin oxide (ITO) electrodes for exploring the possibility of using CT- and HP-based AgNW electrodes for polymer solar cell (PSC) applications. Using the CT or HP method, the sheet resistance of electrodes decreased to lower than 40 Ω sq⁻¹ with an average high transmittance of more than 80%. Furthermore, HP reduced the surface roughness of AgNWs, which solved the inter-electrode short circuiting problem for devices. We studied the performance of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-poly(styrene sulfonate) and zinc oxide-based PSC devices. The power conversion efficiency of HP-AgNW-derived poly[4,8-bis(5-(2-ethylhexyl)thiophen-2-yl)benzo[1,2-b;4,5-b′]dithiophene-2,6-diyl-alt-(4-(2-ethylhexyl)-3-fluorothieno[3,4-b]thiophene-)-2-carboxylate-2-6-diyl] (PTB7-Th):[6,6]-phenyl-C₇₁-butyric acid methyl ester (PC₇₁BM) devices was 7.83%, which was slightly lower than the performance of the device using ITO (8.03%) as a substrate. After a bend test (100 times) at a 2-cm curvature radius, the efficiency of AgNW/PET-derived PSCs was more than 70%. The performance of PSCs made with AgNWs and ITO electrodes is comparable, but the cost of using AgNWs for electrodes is much lower; therefore, HP-derived AgNWs demonstrate great potential for optoelectronic applications. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymer Solar Cells)

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2693 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Effect of Donor and Nonfullerene Acceptor Inhomogeneous Distribution within the Photoactive Layer on the Performance of Polymer Solar Cells with Different Device Structures

by Yaping Wang, Zhenzhen Shi, Hao Liu, Fuzhi Wang, Yiming Bai, Xingming Bian, Bing Zhang, Tasawar Hayat, Ahmed Alsaedi and Zhan’ao Tan

Polymers 2017, 9(11), 571; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym9110571 - 03 Nov 2017

Cited by 18 | Viewed by 5119

Abstract

Due to the inhomogeneous distribution of donor and acceptor materials within the photoactive layer of bulk heterojunction organic solar cells (OSCs), proper selection of a conventional or an inverted device structure is crucial for effective exciton dissociation and charge transportation. Herein, we investigate the donor and acceptor distribution within the non-fullerene photoactive layer based on PBDTTT-ET:IEICO by time-of-flight secondary-ion mass spectroscopy (TOF-SIMS) and scanning Kelvin probe microscopy (SKPM), indicating that more IEICO enriches on the surface of the photoactive layer while PBDTTT-ET distributes homogeneously within the photoactive layer. To further understand the effect of the inhomogeneous component distribution on the photovoltaic performance, both conventional and inverted OSCs were fabricated. As a result, the conventional device shows a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 8.83% which is 41% higher than that of inverted one (6.26%). Eventually, we employed nickel oxide (NiO_x) instead of PEDOT:PSS as anode buffer layer to further enhance the stability and PCE of OSCs with conventional structure, and a promising PCE of 9.12% is achieved. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymer Solar Cells)

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1763 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Zwitter-Ionic Polymer Applied as Electron Transportation Layer for Improving the Performance of Polymer Solar Cells

by Qiaoyun Chen, Zhendong Li, Bin Dong, Yi Zhou and Bo Song

Polymers 2017, 9(11), 566; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym9110566 - 01 Nov 2017

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 4450

Abstract

A zwitter-ionic polymer poly (sulfobetaine methacrylate) (denoted by PSBMA) was employed as an electron transportation layer (ETL) in polymer solar cells (PSCs) based on poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT):[6,6]-phenyl-C₆₁-butyric acid methyl ester (PC₆₁BM). PSBMA is highly soluble in trifluoroethanol, showing an orthogonal solubility to the solvent of the active layer in the preparation of multilayered PSCs. Upon introduction of PSBMA, the short circuit current and as a consequence the power conversion efficiency of the corresponding PSCs are dramatically improved, which can be because of the relatively high polarity of PSBMA compared with the other ETLs. This study demonstrated that zwitter-ionic polymer should be a competitive potential candidate of ETLs in PSCs. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymer Solar Cells)

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2007 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Medium Bandgap D-A Type Photovoltaic Polymers Based on an Asymmetric Dithienopyran Donor and a Benzotriazole Acceptor

by Junyi Hu, Xiaochen Wang, Fan Chen, Bo Xiao, Ailing Tang and Erjun Zhou

Polymers 2017, 9(10), 516; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym9100516 - 17 Oct 2017

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 4651

Abstract

Conjugated polymers based on the donor of an asymmetric 5H-dithieno[3,2-b:2′,3′-d]pyran (DTPa) and the acceptors of benzo[d][1,2,3]triazole (BTA) or di-fluorinated benzo[d][1,2,3]triazole (ffBTA) with thiophene as π-bridge were designed and synthesized. Two asymmetric-building-block-containing polymers (ABC-polymers) possess a strong and broad absorption in the range of 300–750 nm and medium optical bandgap of 1.73 and 1.77 eV for PDTPa-TBTA and PDTPa-TffBTA, respectively. Polymer solar cells using PDTPa-TBTA as donor and [6,6]-phenyl-C₇₁-butyric acid methyl ester (PC₇₁BM) as an acceptor exhibited power conversion efficiencies (PCE) of 2.22% with a V_oc of 0.58 V, a J_sc of 6.04 mA/cm², and an FF of 63.41%. The introduction of fluorine substituents on the BTA unit evidently influenced the optical and photovoltaic properties. Interestingly, although the HOMO energy level indeed decreased, PDTPa-TffBTA showed a decreased V_oc of 0.52 V in solar cells. Combined with an obviously enhanced J_sc of 10.23 mA/cm², and an outstanding FF of 0.64, the PCE of solar cells based on PDTPa-TffBTA was improved by nearly 55%, reached 3.43%. Our results indicate that the BTA unit can be used to construct ABC polymers with a medium bandgap, and the introduction of fluorine on the BTA unit is also effective in improving the photovoltaic performance. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymer Solar Cells)

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2805 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Enhanced Performance of Nanoporous Titanium Dioxide Solar Cells Using Cadmium Sulfide and Poly(3-hexylthiophene) Co-Sensitizers

by Murugathas Thanihaichelvan, Minidu Manoranjana Punya Sri Kodikara, Punniyamoorthy Ravirajan and Dhayalan Velauthapillai

Polymers 2017, 9(10), 467; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym9100467 - 22 Sep 2017

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 4799

Abstract

This work reports the effect of co-sensitization of nanoporous titanium dioxide using Cadmium Sulfide (CdS) and poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) on the performance of hybrid solar cells. CdS nanolayer with different thicknesses was grown on Titanium Dioxide (TiO₂) nanoparticles by chemical bath deposition technique with varying deposition times. Both atomic force microscopy (AFM) and UV–Vis–NIR spectroscopy measurements of TiO₂ electrode sensitized with and without CdS layer confirm that the existence of CdS layer on TiO₂ nanoparticles. AFM images of CdS-coated TiO₂ nanoparticles show that the surface roughness of the TiO₂ nanoparticle samples decreases with increasing CdS deposition times. Current density–voltage and external quantum efficiency (EQE) measurements were carried out for corresponding solar cells. Both short circuit current density (J_SC) and fill factor were optimized at the CdS deposition time of 12 min. On the other hand, a steady and continuous increment in the open circuit voltage (V_OC) was observed with increasing CdS deposition time and increased up to 0.81 V when the deposition time was 24 min. This may be attributed to the increased gradual separation of P3HT and TiO₂ phases and their isolation at the interfaces. The higher V_OC of 0.81 V was due to the higher built-in voltage at the CdS–P3HT interface when compared to that at the TiO₂–P3HT interface. Optimized nanoporous TiO₂ solar cells with CdS and P3HT co-sensitizers showed external quantum efficiency (EQE) of over 40% and 80% at the wavelengths corresponding to strong absorption of the polymer and CdS, respectively. The cells showed an overall average efficiency of over 2.4% under the illumination of 70 mW/cm² at AM 1.5 condition. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymer Solar Cells)

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1833 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Novel Two-Dimensional Conjugated Polymer Containing Fluorinated Bithiophene as Donor and Benzoselenodiazole as Acceptor Units with Vinyl-Terthiophene Pendants for Polymer Photovoltaic Cells

by Rathinam Raja, Shengkai Luo, Chuen-Yo Hsiow, Syang-Peng Rwei and Leeyih Wang

Polymers 2017, 9(7), 272; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym9070272 - 07 Jul 2017

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 4966

Abstract

Novel two-dimensional conjugated copolymer, abbreviated as PDTBSeVTT-2TF, containing electron-deficient 4,7-di(thiophen-2-yl)benzo[c][1,2,5]selenodiazole (DTBSe) unit, conjugated vinyl-terthiophene (VTT) side chain and 3,3′-difluoro-2,2′-bithiophene (2TF) was designed and synthesized using microwave-assisted Stille cross-coupling polymerization. UV–visible absorption and cyclic voltammetry studies revealed that this copolymer possesses a strong and broad absorption in the range of 300–800 nm and a narrow optical bandgap (E_g) of 1.57 eV with low-lying HOMO and LUMO energy levels. Further, the bulk heterojunction polymer solar cells (PSCs) were fabricated using PDTBSeVTT-2TF as donor and [6,6]-phenyl-C₇₁-butyric acid methyl ester (PC₇₁BM) as acceptor with an inverted device structure of ITO/ZnO/PDTBSeVTT-2TF:PC₇₁BM/V₂O₅/Ag. The processing temperature of blend solution for preparing PDTBSeVTT-2TF:PC₇₁BM active layer showed obvious impact on the photovoltaic performance of solar devices. The cell fabricated from the blend solution at 65 °C exhibited enhanced power conversion efficiencies (PCE) of 5.11% with a J_sc of 10.99 mA/cm⁻² compared with the one at 50 °C, which had a PCE of 4.69% with a J_sc of 10.10 mA/cm⁻². This enhancement is due to the dissolution of PDTBSeVTT-2TF clusters into single molecules and small aggregates, improving the miscibility between the polymer and PC₇₁BM and thus increasing the donor/acceptor interface. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymer Solar Cells)

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Review

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33 pages, 8550 KiB

Open AccessReview

Recent Advances of Plasmonic Organic Solar Cells: Photophysical Investigations

by Lin Feng, Mengsi Niu, Zhenchuan Wen and Xiaotao Hao

Polymers 2018, 10(2), 123; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym10020123 - 26 Jan 2018

Cited by 74 | Viewed by 8377

Abstract

The surface plasmon resonance (SPR) of metallic nanomaterials, such as gold (Au) and silver (Ag), has been extensively exploited to improve the optical absorption, the charge carrier transport, and the ultimate device performances in organic photovoltaic cells (OPV). With the incorporation of diverse metallic nanostructures in active layers, buffer layers, electrodes, or between adjacent layers of OPVs, multiple plasmonic mechanisms may occur and need to be distinguished to better understand plasmonic enhancement. Steady-state photophysics is a powerful tool for unraveling the plasmonic nature and revealing plasmonic mechanisms such as the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR), the propagating plasmon-polariton (SPP), and the plasmon-gap mode. Furthermore, the charge transfer dynamics in the organic semiconductor materials can be elucidated from the transient photophysical investigations. In this review article, the basics of the plasmonic mechanisms and the related metallic nanostructures are briefly introduced. We then outline the recent advances of the plasmonic applications in OPVs emphasizing the linkage between the photophysical properties, the nanometallic geometries, and the photovoltaic performance of the OPV devices. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymer Solar Cells)

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6176 KiB

Open AccessReview

Recent Development in ITO-free Flexible Polymer Solar Cells

by Shudi Lu, Yang Sun, Kuankuan Ren, Kong Liu, Zhijie Wang and Shengchun Qu

Polymers 2018, 10(1), 5; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym10010005 - 22 Dec 2017

Cited by 50 | Viewed by 12482

Abstract

Polymer solar cells have shown good prospect for development due to their advantages of low-cost, light-weight, solution processable fabrication, and mechanical flexibility. Their compatibility with the industrial roll-to-roll manufacturing process makes it superior to other kind of solar cells. Normally, indium tin oxide (ITO) is adopted as the transparent electrode in polymer solar cells, which combines good conductivity and transparency. However, some intrinsic weaknesses of ITO restrict its large scale applications in the future, including a high fabrication price using high temperature vacuum deposition method, scarcity of indium, brittleness and scaling up of resistance with the increase of area. Some substitutes to ITO have emerged in recent years, which can be used in flexible polymer solar cells. This article provides the review on recent progress using other transparent electrodes, including carbon nanotubes, graphene, metal nanowires and nanogrids, conductive polymer, and some other electrodes. Device stability is also discussed briefly. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymer Solar Cells)

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