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Efficient Large Area Organic Solar Cells Processed by Blade‐Coating With Single‐Component Green Solvent
Author(s) -
Zhang Kai,
Chen Zhiming,
Armin Ardalan,
Dong Sheng,
Xia Ruoxi,
Yip HinLap,
Shoaee Safa,
Huang Fei,
Cao Yong
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
solar rrl
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.544
H-Index - 37
ISSN - 2367-198X
DOI - 10.1002/solr.201700169
Subject(s) - organic solar cell , materials science , coating , solvent , fabrication , energy conversion efficiency , scalability , organic solvent , nanotechnology , photovoltaic system , chemical engineering , optoelectronics , computer science , composite material , chemistry , electrical engineering , organic chemistry , polymer , engineering , medicine , alternative medicine , pathology , database
While the performance of laboratory‐scale organic solar cells (OSCs) continues to grow, development of high efficiency large area OSCs remains a big challenge. Although a few attempts to produce large area organic solar cells (OSCs) have been reported, there are still challenges on the way to realizing efficient module devices, such as the low compatibility of the thickness‐sensitive active layer with large area coating techniques, the frequent need for toxic solvents and tedious optimization processes used during device fabrication. In this work, highly efficient thickness‐insensitive OSCs based on PTB7‐Th:PC 71 BM that processed with single‐component green solvent 2‐methylanisole are presented, in which both junction thickness limitation and solvent toxicity issues are simultaneously addressed. Careful investigation reveals that this green solvent prevents the evolution of PC 71 BM into large area clusters resulting in reduced charge carrier recombination, and largely eliminates trapping centers, and thus improves the thickness tolerance of the films. These findings enable us to address the scalability and solvent toxicity issues and to fabricate a 16 cm 2 OSC with doctor‐blade coating with a state‐of‐the‐art power conversion efficiency of 7.5% using green solvent.