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Slot‐Die Coating of a High Performance Copolymer in a Readily Scalable Roll Process for Polymer Solar Cells
Author(s) -
Helgesen Martin,
Carlé Jon Eggert,
Krebs Frederik C.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
advanced energy materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 10.08
H-Index - 220
eISSN - 1614-6840
pISSN - 1614-6832
DOI - 10.1002/aenm.201300324
Subject(s) - materials science , roll to roll processing , polymer solar cell , polymer , thiophene , copolymer , coating , fabrication , energy conversion efficiency , organic solar cell , chemical engineering , nanotechnology , optoelectronics , composite material , organic chemistry , medicine , chemistry , alternative medicine , pathology , engineering
Copolymers based on dithieno[3,2‐b:2′,3′‐d]silole (DTS) and dithienylthiazolo[5,4‐ d ]thiazole (TTz) are synthesized and tested in an all‐solution roll process for polymer solar cells (PSCs). Fabrication of polymer:[6,6]‐phenyl‐C 61 ‐butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) solar cells is done on a previously reported compact coating/printing machine, which enables the preparation of PSCs that are directly scalable with full roll‐to‐roll processing. The positioning of the side‐chains on the thiophene units proves to be very significant in terms of solubility of the polymers and consequently has a major impact on the device yield and process control. The most successful processing is accomplished with the polymer, PDTSTTz‐4 , that has the side‐chains situated in the 4‐position on the thiophene units. Inverted PSCs based on PDTSTTz‐4 demonstrate high fill factors, up to 59%, even with active layer thicknesses well above 200 nm. Power conversion efficiencies of up to 3.5% can be reached with the roll‐coated PDTSTTz‐4 :PCBM solar cells that, together with good process control and high device yield, designate PDTSTTz‐4 as a convincing candidate for high‐throughput roll‐to‐roll production of PSCs.