Open AccessBiomimetic Approach to Inhibition of Photooxidation in Organic Solar Cells Using Beta-Carotene as an Additive
Author(s) -
Vida Turkovic,
Michela Prete,
Mikkel Bregnhøj,
Lia. Inasaridze,
Dmytro Volyniuk,
Filipp A. Obrezkov,
Sebastian Engmann,
HorstGünter Rubahn,
Pavel A. Troshin,
Peter R. Ogilby,
Morten Madsen
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
acs applied materials and interfaces
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.535
H-Index - 228
eISSN - 1944-8252
pISSN - 1944-8244
DOI - 10.1021/acsami.9b13085
Subject(s) - materials science , organic solar cell , singlet oxygen , photochemistry , degradation (telecommunications) , limiting , photovoltaic system , photovoltaics , optoelectronics , nanotechnology , chemical engineering , oxygen , chemistry , organic chemistry , polymer , computer science , mechanical engineering , telecommunications , ecology , composite material , biology , engineering
Recent efficiency records of organic photovoltaics (OPV) highlight stability as a limiting weakness. Incorporation of stabilizers is a desirable approach for inhibiting degradation-it is inexpensive and readily up-scalable. However, to date, such additives have had limited success. We show that β-carotene (BC), an inexpensive and green, naturally occurring antioxidant, dramatically improves OPV stability. When compared to nonstabilized reference devices, the accumulated power generation of PTB7:[70]PCBM devices in the presence of BC increases by an impressive factor of 6, due to stabilization of both the burn-in and the lifetime, and by a factor of 21 for P3HT:[60]PCBM devices, owing to a longer lifetime. Using electron spin resonance and time-resolved near-IR emission spectroscopies, we probed radical and singlet oxygen concentrations. We demonstrate that singlet oxygen sensitized by [70]PCBM causes the "burn-in" of PTB7:[70]PCBM devices and that BC effectively mitigates it. Our results provide an effective solution to the problem that currently limits widespread use of OPV.