The power conversion efficiency (PCE) of organic photovoltaic (OPV) modules with 9.5% (25 cm2) and 8.7% (802 cm2) have been demonstrated. This PCE of the module exceeded our previous world records of 8.5% (25 cm2) and 6.8% (396 cm2) that were listed in the latest Solar Cell Efficiency Tables ver.43 [1]. Both module design and coating/patterning technique were consistently studied for module development. In order to achieve highly efficient modules, we increased the ratio of photo-active area to designated illumination area to 94% without any scribing process and placed insulating layers in order to decrease the leakage current. The meniscus coating method was used for the fabrication of both buffer and photoactive layers. This technique ensures the fabrication of uniform and nanometer order thickness layers with thickness variation less than 3%. Furthermore, the PCE of the OPV under indoor illumination was found to be higher than that of the conventional Si type solar cells. This indicates that OPVs are promising as electrical power supplies for indoor applications. Therefore, we have also developed several prototypes for electronics integrated photovoltaics (EIPV) such as electrical shelf labels and wireless sensors embedded with our OPV modules, which can be operated by indoor lights.

Anatase titania has been widely used for several applications such as photocatalysis and solar cells. Sol-gel is a conventional route to obtain amorphous titania and, either post-annealing or a post-hydrothermal treatment are necessary to obtain anatase crystalline phase. It is well known that the synthesis conditions affect in the particle size, surface area and grain size of the titania. In this work regular nanoparticles of anatase titania (TiO2) were obtained by an easy ultrasound-assisted synthesis; the nanoparticles were undergone to either a hydrothermal treatment at 130 °C and/or to an annealing at 450°C. Nanoparticles powder with a crystal size of about 8-10 nm were re-dispersed in aqueous solution at different concentrations (5 to 20mg/mL). Poly (3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) microfibers were immersed into the TiO2 nanoparticles solution for 24 h and they were dried at 80°C for 1 h in order to form the bulk heterojunction. P3HT:TiO2 heterojunctions were characterized by SEM and EDS. According to SEM results at low concentration (5 mg/mL), the covering of the P3HT microfibers is poor and at high concentration (20 mg/mL) the microfibers were seen cracked. The best homogeneous covering onto the P3HT microfibers was obtained at 10mg/mL of titania nanoparticles; it could be the optimal concentration to build bulk heterojunction for hybrid solar cells.

In this work we use a three-dimensional Pauli master equation to investigate the charge carrier mobility of a two-phase system, which can mimic donor-acceptor and amorphous-crystalline bulk heterojunctions. Our approach can be separated into two parts: the morphology generation and the charge transport modeling in the generated blend. The morphology part is based on a Monte Carlo simulation of binary mixtures (donor/acceptor). The second part is carried out by numerically solving the steady-state Pauli master equation. By taking the energetic disorder of each phase, their energy offset and domain morphology into consideration, we show that the carrier mobility can have a significant different behavior when compared to a one-phase system. When the energy offset is non-zero, we show that the mobility electric field dependence switches from negative to positive at a threshold field proportional to the energy offset. Additionally, the influence of morphology, through the domain size and the interfacial roughness parameters, on the transport was also investigated.

Two self-assembling twin guanine-cytosine (G∧C) hybrid molecules featuring porphyrin (TPPO-(G∧C)2) and oligothiophene groups (6T-(G∧C)2) were synthesized. In organic solution, these molecules self-assemble into one-dimensional rosette nanotubes (RNTs) featuring the porphyrin or oligiothiophene groups on the outer surface. Using a combination of imaging and spectroscopic techniques we established the structure of the TPPO-(G∧C)2 and 6T-(G∧C)2 RNTs and compared the HOMO and LUMO energy levels with PC61BM, a well-known electron acceptor material. These studies, in combination with solid-state photoluminescence data of PC61BM-TPPO-(G∧C)2 RNT blended thin films, indicates that these self-assembled nanomaterials have great potential as electron donor materials for solution-processed organic photovoltaics.

We demonstrate an effective recombination zone consisting of Mg:Ag (1:3) alloy and MoO3 layers with 0.8 nm and 3 nm respectively for application in tandem organic photovoltaic devices based on zinc phthalocyanine (ZnPc) donor and fullerene C60 acceptor. The Mg:Ag layer ensures an optimum electron selectivity, while MoO3 layer effectively selects holes. A conversion efficiency of 2.2% has been achieved under an illumination of 100 mW/cm2 at room temperature. The open circuit voltage of 810 mV is close to the sum of the open circuit voltages of the constituent single cells. The recombination Mg:Ag-MoO3 layer system is investigated with regard to the requirements of high optical transparency, work function compatibility, and facilitation of light absorption. The respective characterizations were carried out by UV-Visible spectroscopy, Kelvin probe force microscopy in ultrahigh vacuum, current-voltage and external quantum efficiency methods.

In this study, an “inverted” design, phase-separated morphology and gold-functionalized reduced graphene oxide (Au-rGO) were used to address exciton recombination and poor Fermi level alignment. To increase efficiencies, a unique methodology was used to coat Au-rGO on top of the active layer. When 0.05 Au-rGO was blended with the active layer, there were metal-thiolate bonds with P3HT and π-π stacking with PCBM. However, KPFM, measured for the first time for this material, showed that the while 0.05mM Au-rGO reduced the energy gap between P3HT and PBCM, this was offset by recombination. KPFM showed that Au-rGO may be better suited between the active layer and electrode. When 0.5mM Au-rGO was coated on top of the active layer, efficiency increased (p<0.002) nearly 600%, suggesting that Au-rGO is a more effective acceptor than a constituent of the active layer.

We have set a new bench mark for DSSC performances by fabricating a very efficient device with a high photocurrent density and good stability. This bench mark was accomplished by harmonizing the absorption spectrum of the dye with the average size of the aggregates in the TiO2 electrode. The resultant resonant multiple scattering enhanced the light harvesting efficiency and charge collection yield. The high and robust photovoltaic performance (with an initial efficiency of 9.18% and an efficiency of 7.44% after 800 h of irradiation with a light intensity of 100 mW cm-2) of the JH-1 DSSC prepared without an antireflecting layer demonstrated the promise of this novel sensitizer for large scale applications.

Thiophene small novel branched structures have been proposed as candidates for dopant agents transporting holes-electron in organic solar cell (OSC). Low-band gap of these branched oligotiophene have been obtained to be used in organic solar cells. Two branched thiophene oligomers, a sexithienylene vinylene (E)-Bis-1,2-(5,5´´-Dimethyl-(2,2´:3´,2´´-terthiophene) vinylene, (BSTV) and octathienylene vinylene (BOTV) (E)-Bis-1,2-(5,5´´´-Dimethyl-(2,2´:5´,2´´:3´,2´´´-tetrathiophene) vinylene oligomers, have been synthesized and used as electron donor or dopant in a bulk heterojunction poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT), /[6,6]-phenyl C61-butyric acid methylester (PCBM), Organic Photovoltaic cell.

We present a study of photoinduced charge carrier dynamics in single crystals and polycrystalline thin films of a functionalized fluorinated anthradithiophene (ADT) derivative, ADT-TES-F, combining measurements of time-resolved photocurrent with computational modeling. Simulations revealed two competing charge generation pathways: ultrafast charge separation and nanosecond (ns) time-scale exciton dissociation. Single crystals exhibited significantly enhanced fast charge photogeneration and charge carrier mobilities, as well as lower charge trap densities and free hole-trapped electron recombination, as compared to thin films. At sub-ns time scales after photoexcitation, the light intensity dependence of the photocurrents obtained in single crystals was determined by the carrier density-dependent recombination. At longer time scales, and at lower intensities, taking into account carrier concentration-dependent mobility improved agreement between numerically simulated and experimentally measured photocurrent data.

A facile, high-yield synthesis of edge gold-coated silver nanoprisms (GSNPs) with a gold nanoframe as thin as 1.7 nm and their comprehensive characterizations by using various spectroscopic and microscopic techniques is introduced. The GSNPs exhibit remarkably higher stability than silver nanoprisms (SNPs) and are therefore explored as effective optical antennae for light-harvesting applications. When embedded into a bulk heterojunctions film of P3HT:PCBM, plasmonic GSNPs with a localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) around 500 nm can effectively act as optical antennae to enhance light harvesting in the active layer. As a result, we measured up to 7-fold enhancement in the polaron generation yield through photoinduced absorption spectroscopy. Owing to the high stability and strong field enhancement, the presented GSNPs feature great potential as plasmonic probes for photovoltaic applications and LSPR sensing.