Status report on emerging photovoltaics

This report provides a snapshot of emerging photovoltaic (PV) technologies. It consists of concise contributions from experts in a wide range of fields including silicon, thin film, III-V, perovskite, organic, and dye-sensitized PVs. Strategies for exceeding the detailed balance limit and for light managing are presented, followed by a section detailing key applications and commercialization pathways. A section on sustainability then discusses the need for minimization of the environmental footprint in PV manufacturing and recycling. The report concludes with a perspective based on broad survey questions presented to the contributing authors regarding the needs and future evolution of PV

Geometry, electronic structure and polymer-dopant interaction in conjugated polymers: Thermochromism and thermal undoping in poly(alkylthiophenes)

499-505The present understanding and modelling of thermochromism and solvatochromism of neutral poly(3-alkylthiophenes), as well as temperature induced loss of doping in the doped polymers are reviewed. The importance of conformational flexibility in conjugated polymers is highlighted. Routes towards the stabilisation of the doped state using control of free volume are described

Red and near infrared polarized light emissions from polyfluorene copolymer based light emitting diodes

The authors report polarized red, electroluminescence peak at 705 nm and near IR, electroluminescence peak at 950 nm, light emission from light emitting diodes based on two polyfluorene copolymers. The copolymers are synthesized from a fluorene monomer combined with donor-acceptor-donor comonomers and designed to have a low band gap and form birefringent liq. cryst. phases. Emission occurs from aligned thin films of polymer layers. The emissive layers are aligned by spin coating on a layer of rubbed conducting polymer poly(3,4-ethylene dioxythiophene)-poly(styrene sulfonate) and thermally converted into glassy nematic liq. cryst. state. [on SciFinder (R)

Oligothiophene Assemblies Defined by DNA Interaction: From Single Chains to Disordered Clusters

The organization of conjugated polyelectrolytes (CPEs) interacting with biomolecules sets conditions for the biodetection of biological processes and identity, through the use of optical emission from the CPE. Herein, a well-defined CPE and its binding to DNA is studied. By using dynamic light scattering and circular dichroism spectroscopy, it is shown that the CPE forms a multimolecule ensemble in aqueous solution that is more than doubled it? size when interacting with a small DNA chain, while single chains are evident in ethanol. The related changes in the fluorescence spectra upon polymer aggregation are assigned to oscillator strength redistribution between vibronic transitions in weakly coupled H-aggregates. An enhanced single-molecule spectroscopy technique that allows full control of excitation and emission light polarization is applied to combed and decorated;,DNA chains. It is found that the organization of combed CPE-lambda DNA complexes (when dry on the surface) allows considerable variation of CPE distances and direction relative to the DNA chain. By analysis of the polarization data. energy transfer between the polymer chains in individual complexes is confirmed and their sizes estimated

Charge carrier dynamics in alternating polyfluorene copolymer: Fullerene blends probed by terahertz spectroscopy

Time-resolved terahertz spectroscopy is used for investigation of photoinduced charge carrier dynamics in blends of a polyfluorene copolymer (poly [2,7-(9,9-dioctyl-fluorene)-alt-5,5-(4',7'-di-2-thienyl-2',1',3-benzothi adiazole)]) and an electron acceptor ([6,6]-phenyl-C-61-butyric acid methyl ester). The transient far-infrared response appears instantaneously after photoexcitation. We show that the transient conductivity spectrum is dominated by two major contributions: response of separated charge carriers and response of coupled polaron pairs

Polarization Imaging of Emissive Charge Transfer States in Polymer/Fullerene Blends

Photoexcitation of conjugated polymerfullerene blends results in population of a local charge transfer (CT) state at the interface between the two materials. The competition between recombination and dissociation of this interfacial state limits the generation of fully separated free charges. Therefore, a detailed understanding of the CT states is critical for building a comprehensive picture of the organic solar cells operation. We applied a new fluorescence microscopy method called two-dimensional polarization imaging to gain insight into the orientation of the transition dipole moments of the CT states, and the associated excitation energy transfer processes in TQ1:PCBM blend films. The polymer phase was oriented mechanically to relate the polymer dipole moment orientation to that of the CT states. CT state formation was observed to be much faster than energy transfer in the polymer phase. However, after being formed an emissive CT state does not exchange excitation energy with other CT states, suggesting that they are spatially and/or energetically isolated. We found that the quantum yield of the CT emission is smaller for CT states spatially located in the highly oriented polymer domains, which is interpreted as the result of enhanced CT state dissociation in highly ordered structures

Predicting the Open-Circuit Voltage of CH3NH3PbI3 Perovskite Solar Cells Using Electroluminescence and Photovoltaic Quantum Efficiency Spectra: the Role of Radiative and Non-Radiative Recombination

The remarkably high open-circuit voltage of methylammonium lead iodide perovskite solar cells is investigated. Both the theoretical maximum and the real open-circuit voltage are predicted from electroluminescence and photovoltaic external quantum efficiency spectra. Radiative and non-radiative recombination are quantified, where a source of non-radiative recombination is found in the mesoscopic structure, independent of the Al2O3 or TiO2 scaffold. Without a hole-transport layer, non-radiative recombination is strongly enhanced, which reduces the open-circuit voltage. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim

Transient photocurrent of bulk heterojunction solar cell characterized by ns-laser and sub-ms LED

We measure the transient photocurrent of APFO3:PCBM bulk heterojunction solar cells illuminated with ns-laser and sub-ms LED light sources. The ratio of the number of collective charges to the number of excited photon (external quantum efficiency, EQE) and the transient photocurrent fall times have been carried out with difference pulse durations and fluences. The EQEs characterized by ns-laser source are shown to obey the bimolecular recombination at high excitation fluences. The increasing of transient photocurrent fall times suggests that the fall times of free charge carriers are effected by deep trap density of state (DoS) and thus the free charge carriers have a sufficient time for bimolecular recombination at short circuit condition. At the same fluences, however, the EQEs characterized by sub-ms LED sources exhibit an excitation fluences independence of EQE. The transient photocurrent fall times with sub-ms LED sources are rather constant when the excitation fluences increases indicating that the deep trap DoS has less effect at short circuit condition for longer pulse duration