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Roll‐to‐Roll Printed Large‐Area All‐Polymer Solar Cells with 5% Efficiency Based on a Low Crystallinity Conjugated Polymer Blend
Author(s) -
Gu Xiaodan,
Zhou Yan,
Gu Kevin,
Kurosawa Tadanori,
Guo Yikun,
Li Yunke,
Lin Haoran,
Schroeder Bob C.,
Yan Hongping,
MolinaLopez Francisco,
Tassone Christopher J.,
Wang Cheng,
Mannsfeld Stefan C. B.,
Yan He,
Zhao Dahui,
Toney Michael F.,
Bao Zhenan
Publication year - 2017
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.201602742
Subject(s) - crystallinity , materials science , polymer , crystallization of polymers , acceptor , polymer solar cell , crystallization , amorphous solid , chemical engineering , organic solar cell , roll to roll processing , conjugated system , energy conversion efficiency , nanotechnology , composite material , optoelectronics , organic chemistry , chemistry , physics , engineering , condensed matter physics
The challenge of continuous printing in high‐efficiency large‐area organic solar cells is a key limiting factor for their widespread adoption. A materials design concept for achieving large‐area, solution‐coated all‐polymer bulk heterojunction solar cells with stable phase separation morphology between the donor and acceptor is presented. The key concept lies in inhibiting strong crystallization of donor and acceptor polymers, thus forming intermixed, low crystallinity, and mostly amorphous blends. Based on experiments using donors and acceptors with different degree of crystallinity, the results show that microphase separated donor and acceptor domain sizes are inversely proportional to the crystallinity of the conjugated polymers. This methodology of using low crystallinity donors and acceptors has the added benefit of forming a consistent and robust morphology that is insensitive to different processing conditions, allowing one to easily scale up the printing process from a small‐scale solution shearing coater to a large‐scale continuous roll‐to‐roll (R2R) printer. Large‐area all‐polymer solar cells are continuously roll‐to‐roll slot die printed with power conversion efficiencies of 5%, with combined cell area up to 10 cm 2 . This is among the highest efficiencies realized with R2R‐coated active layer organic materials on flexible substrate.