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Recent Advances in Mechanically Robust and Stretchable Bulk Heterojunction Polymer Solar Cells
Author(s) -
St. Onge P. Blake J.,
Ocheje Michael U.,
Selivanova Mariia,
RondeauGagné Simon
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
the chemical record
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.61
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1528-0691
pISSN - 1527-8999
DOI - 10.1002/tcr.201800163
Subject(s) - nanotechnology , conformable matrix , organic solar cell , photovoltaics , photovoltaic system , materials science , heterojunction , solar energy , optoelectronics , engineering , electrical engineering , composite material
Abstract Organic bulk heterojunction solar cells are promising candidates as future photovoltaic technologies for large‐scale and low‐cost energy production. It is, therefore, not surprising that research on the design and preparation of these types of organic photovoltaics has attracted a lot of attention since the last two decades, leading to constantly growing values of energy conversion and efficiency. Combined with the possibility of a large‐scale production via roll‐to‐roll printing techniques, bulk heterojunction solar cells enable the fabrication of conformable, light‐weight and flexible light‐harvesting devices for point‐of‐use applications. This perspective review will highlight the recent advances toward mechanically robust and intrinsically stretchable bulk heterojunction solar cells. Mechanically robust fullerene‐based and all‐polymer devices will be presented, as well as a comprehensive overview of the recent challenges and characterization techniques recently developed to overcome some of the challenges of this research area, which is still in its infancy.