Organic photovoltaic cells: from performance improvement to manufacturing processes

Hongseok Youn; Hui Joon Park; L Jay Guo

doi:10.1002/smll.201402883

Organic photovoltaic cells: from performance improvement to manufacturing processes

Small. 2015 May 20;11(19):2228-46. doi: 10.1002/smll.201402883. Epub 2015 Jan 7.

Authors

Hongseok Youn¹, Hui Joon Park², L Jay Guo³

Affiliations

¹ National Center for Nanoprocess and Equipment, Korea Institute of Industrial Technology (KITECH), Gwangju, 500-480, Korea.
² Division of Energy Systems Research, Ajou University, Suwon, 443-749, Korea.
³ Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 48109, USA.

PMID: 25581262
DOI: 10.1002/smll.201402883

Abstract

Organic photovoltaics (OPVs) have been pursued as a next generation power source due to their light weight, thin, flexible, and simple fabrication advantages. Improvements in OPV efficiency have attracted great attention in the past decade. Because the functional layers in OPVs can be dissolved in common solvents, they can be manufactured by eco-friendly and scalable printing or coating technologies. In this review article, the focus is on recent efforts to control nanomorphologies of photoactive layer and discussion of various solution-processed charge transport and extraction materials, to maximize the performance of OPV cells. Next, recent works on printing and coating technologies for OPVs to realize solution processing are reviewed. The review concludes with a discussion of recent advances in the development of non-traditional lamination and transfer method towards highly efficient and fully solution-processed OPV.

Keywords: charge transport layers; coatings; extraction layers; organic photovoltaic cells; photoactive layers; printing; solution processing.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.