EMSL Pore Scale Modeling Challenge/Workshop

Report covers the background for the workshop, objectives, important research directions, necessary capabilities and overall recommendations

Long-Term Stable Recombination Layer for Tandem Polymer Solar Cells Using Self-Doped Conducting Polymers

Recently, the most efficient tandem polymer solar cells (PSCs) have used poly­(3,4-ethylene­dioxythiophene):poly­(styrene­sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) as a p-type component of recombination layer (RL). However, its undesirable acidic nature, originating from insulating PSS, of PEDOT:PSS drastically reduces the lifetime of PSCs. Here, we demonstrate the efficient and stable tandem PSCs by introducing acid-free self-doped conducting polymer (SCP), combined with zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs), as RL for PEDOT:PSS-free tandem PSCs. Moreover, we introduce an innovative and versatile nanocomposite system containing photoactive and p-type conjugated polyelectrolyte (p-CPE) into the tandem fabrication of an ideal self-organized recombination layer. In our new RL, highly conductive SCP facilitates charge transport and recombination process, and p-CPE helps to achieve nearly loss-free charge collection by increasing effective work function of indium tin oxide (ITO) and SCP. Because of the synergistic effect of extremely low electrical resistance, ohmic contact, and pH neutrality, tandem devices with our novel RL performed well, exhibiting a high power conversion efficiency of 10.2% and a prolonged lifetime. These findings provide a new insight for strategic design of RLs using SCPs to achieve efficient and stable tandem PSCs and enable us to review and extend the usefulness of SCPs in various electronics research fields

In Situ Doping of the PEDOT Top Electrode for All-Solution-Processed Semitransparent Organic Solar Cells

The development of an ideal solution-processable transparent electrode has been a challenge in the field of all-solution-processed semitransparent organic solar cells (ST-OSCs). We present a novel poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):polystyrenesulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) top electrode for all-solution-processed ST-OSCs through in situ doping of PEDOT:PSS. A strongly polarized long perfluoroalkyl (n = 8) chain-anchored sulfonic acid effectively eliminates insulating PSS and spontaneously crystallizes PEDOT at room temperature, leading to outstanding electrical properties and transparency of PEDOT top electrodes. Doped PEDOT-based ST-OSCs yield a high power conversion efficiency of 10.9% while providing an average visible transmittance of 26.0% in the visible range. Moreover, the strong infrared reflectivity of PEDOT enables ST-OSCs to reject 62.6% of the heat emitted by sunlight (76.7% from infrared radiation), outperforming the thermal insulation capability of commercial tint films. This light management approach using PEDOT enables ST-OSCs to simultaneously provide energy generation and energy savings, making it the first discovery toward sustainable energy in buildings

Direct Observation of Confinement Effects of Semiconducting Polymers in Polymer Blend Electronic Systems

Abstract The advent of special types of polymeric semiconductors, known as “polymer blends,” presents new opportunities for the development of next‐generation electronics based on these semiconductors' versatile functionalities in device applications. Although these polymer blends contain semiconducting polymers (SPs) mixed with a considerably high content of insulating polymers, few of these blends unexpectedly yield much higher charge carrier mobilities than those of pure SPs. However, the origin of such an enhancement has remained unclear owing to a lack of cases exhibiting definite improvements in charge carrier mobility, and the limited knowledge concerning the underlying mechanism thereof. In this study, the morphological changes and internal nanostructures of polymer blends based on various SP types with different intermolecular interactions in an insulating polystyrene matrix are investigated. Through this investigation, the physical confinement of donor–acceptor type SP chains in a continuous nanoscale network structure surrounded by polystyrenes is shown to induce structural ordering with more straight edge‐on stacked SP chains. Hereby, high‐performance and transparent organic field‐effect transistors with a hole mobility of ≈5.4 cm2 V–1 s–1 and an average transmittance exceeding 72% in the visible range are achieved

Overcoming the Interfacial Photocatalytic Degradation of Nonfullerene Acceptor-Based Organic Photovoltaics by Introducing a UV-A-Insensitive Titanium Suboxide Layer

Although recent dramatic advances in power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) have resulted in values over 19%, the poor photostability of organic photovoltaics (OPVs) has been a serious bottleneck to their commercialization. The photocatalytic effect, which is caused by incident ultraviolet-A (UV-A, 320–400 nm) light in the most commonly used zinc oxide (ZnOX) electron transport layer (ETL), significantly deteriorates the photostability of OPVs. In this work, we develop a new and facile method to enhance the photostability of nonfullerene acceptor-based OPVs by introducing UV-A-insensitive titanium suboxide (TiOX) ETL. Through an in-depth analysis of mass information at the interface between the ETL and photoactive layer, we confirm that the UV-A-insensitive TiOX suppresses the photocatalytic effect. The resulting device employing the TiOX ETL shows excellent photostability, obtaining 80% of the initial PCE for up to 200 h under 1 sun illumination, which is 10 times longer than that of the conventional ZnOX system (19 h)