Efficient solar cells are more stable: the impact of polymer molecular weight on performance of organic photovoltaics

Z. Ding; J. Kettle; M. Horie; S. W. Chang; G. C. Smith; A. I. Shames; E. A. Katz

doi:10.1039/C6TA00721J

Efficient solar cells are more stable: the impact of polymer molecular weight on performance of organic photovoltaics†

Z. Ding,‡^a J. Kettle,‡*^a M. Horie,^b S. W. Chang,^b G. C. Smith,^c A. I. Shames^d and E. A. Katz^ef

* Corresponding authors

^a School of Electronics, Bangor University, Dean St, Bangor, Gwynedd, Wales, UK
E-mail: j.kettle@bangor.ac.uk
Fax: +44 (0)1248 382471

^b Department of Chemical Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, 101, Sec. 2, Kuang-Fu Road, Hsinchu City 30013, Taiwan

^c Department of Natural Sciences, University of Chester, Thornton Science Park, Chester CH2 4NU, UK

^d Department of Physics, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, P.O.B. 653, Be'er-Sheva, Israel

^e Department of Solar Energy and Environmental Physics, J. Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede Boker Campus, Israel

^f Ilse Katz Institute of Nano-Science and Technology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Be'er Sheva 8410501, Israel

Abstract

The principle remaining challenge in the research area of organic photovoltaic (OPV) materials is to develop solar cells that combine high efficiency, stability and reproducibility. Here, we demonstrate an experimental strategy which has successfully addressed this challenge. We produced a number of samples of the highly efficient PTB7 polymer with various molecular weights (M_n ∼ 40–220k). OPV cells fabricated with this polymer demonstrated significant improvement of the cell efficiency (by ∼90% relative) and lifetime (by ∼300% relative) with the M_n increase. We attribute these effects to the lower density of recombination centers (persistent radical defects revealed by EPR spectroscopy) and better photoactive layer morphology in the samples with higher M_n. Relevance of the observed correlation between the OPV efficiency and stability is discussed.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/C6TA00721J
Article type: Paper
Submitted: 25 Jan 2016
Accepted: 13 Apr 2016
First published: 14 Apr 2016
This article is Open Access

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J. Mater. Chem. A, 2016,4, 7274-7280

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Efficient solar cells are more stable: the impact of polymer molecular weight on performance of organic photovoltaics

Z. Ding, J. Kettle, M. Horie, S. W. Chang, G. C. Smith, A. I. Shames and E. A. Katz, J. Mater. Chem. A, 2016, 4, 7274 DOI: 10.1039/C6TA00721J

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Journal of Materials Chemistry A

Efficient solar cells are more stable: the impact of polymer molecular weight on performance of organic photovoltaics†

Abstract

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Efficient solar cells are more stable: the impact of polymer molecular weight on performance of organic photovoltaics

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