Rational Material Design, Interface, and Device Engineering for High-Performance and Stable Polymer Solar Cells

Professor Alex K.-Y. Jen
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195

The performance of polymer solar cells is strongly dependent on their efficiency in harvesting light,
exciton dissociation, charge transport, and charge collection at the metal/organic/metal oxide
interfaces. In this talk, the integrated approach of combining material design, interface, and device
engineering to significantly improve the performance of polymer photovoltaic cells will be discussed.
Specific emphasis will be placed on the low band-gap polymers development with low reorganization
energy and proper energy levels, optimized morphology of bulk-heterojunction layer, and minimized
interfacial energy barriers with functional surfactants and graphene oxide. At the end, several new
device architectures and processing strategies will be discussed to explore the full promise of polymer
solar cells.
References

  1. Improved Charge Transport and Absorption Coefficient in Indacenodithieno[3,2-b] thiophenebased Ladder-Type Polymer Leading to Highly Efficient Polymer Solar Cells, Y.-X. Xu, C.-C.
    Chueh, H-L. Yip, F.-Z. Ding, Y.-X. Li, C.-Z. Li, X. S. Li, W.-C. Chen, A. K.-Y. Jen, Adv. Mater.,
    2012, 24, 6356.
  2. Photocurrent Losses in High-Voltage Organic Solar Cells, C. W. Schlenker, K.-S. Chen, H.-L.
    Yip, C.-Z. Li, L. R. Bradshaw, S. T. Ochsenbein, D. R. Gamelin, A. K.-Y. Jen, and D. S. Ginger,
    J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2012, 134(48), 19661.
  3. Recent Advances in Solution-Processed Interface Materials for Efficient and Stable Polymer
    Solar Cells    , H.-L. Yip and A. K-Y. Jen, Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, 5, 5994.
  4. Semi-Transparent Polymer Solar Cells with 6% PCE, 25% Average Visible Transmittance and
    Color Rendering Index Close to 100 for Power Generating Window Applications    , K.-S. Chen ,
    J.-F. Salinas, H.-L. Yip, J. Hou, and A. K.-Y. Jen, Energy Environ. Sci., 2012, 5(11), 9551.
  5. Optical Design of Transparent Thin Metal Electrodes to Enhance In-coupling and Trapping of
    Light in Flexible Polymer Solar Cells    , J.-F. Salinas, H.-L. Yip, C.-C. Chueh, C.-Z. Li, J.-L.
    Maldonado and A. K.-Y. Jen, Adv. Mater., 2012, 24, 6362.
  6. Interface Engineering for Organic Electronics, H. Ma, H. L. Yip, F. Huang, and A. K-Y. Jen,
    an Invited Feature Article, Adv. Func. Mater., 2010, 20(9), 1371.