Advanced Energy Materials
Advanced Energy Materials
5 years ago

Energy Losses in Small-Molecule Organic Photovoltaics

Energy Losses in Small-Molecule Organic Photovoltaics
Thomas Zechel, Theresa Linderl, Jens Pflaum, Daniel Moseguí González, Peter Müller-Buschbaum, Michael Brendel, Wolfgang Brütting
After intense research and development organic solar cells have matured among the family of thin-film photovoltaic technologies. On the laboratory scale they reach power conversion efficiencies in excess of 10%. Together with other attractive features, like transparency or the compatibility with low-cost, large area processing, they open reasonable perspectives for their commercialization. However, in order to close the gap to established inorganic technologies, primarily crystalline silicon, the fundamental understanding of loss processes has to be improved. First and foremost, this concerns the energy loss between the optical gap for light absorption and the open-circuit voltage of the cell. Here, the scientific background for the different mechanisms of energy losses in organic photovoltaic cells together with current approaches toward their reduction is presented. The energy loss between the optical gap and the open-circuit-voltage is one of the primary reasons why the efficiency of organic photovoltaic cells lags behind their inorganic counterparts. This research news highlights the scientific background and presents strategies to improve on this issue.

Publisher URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/resolve/doi

DOI: 10.1002/aenm.201700237

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