Organic Solar Cell Alloy Model

What are ternary organic solar cells?

Subsequently, the conventional models are revisited in the light of these new insights, with the aim of pointing out existing gaps and providing the stimulus for challenging old concepts. Ternary organic solar cells adhere to a simple device fabrication strategy and are among the highest performing organic solar cells to date.

Can ternary donor alloy improve photovoltaic performance of organic solar cells?

The large energy loss (Eloss) is one of the main obstacles to further improve the photovoltaic performance of organic solar cells (OSCs), which is closely related to the charge transfer (CT) state. Herein, ternary donor alloy strategy is used to precisely tune the energy of CT state (ECT) and thus the Eloss for boosting the efficiency of OSCs.

How do ternary organic solar cells improve power conversion efficiency?

In ternary organic solar cells (TOSCs), three different components are mixed to form the photoactive layer, opening up opportunities to boost the power conversion efficiency — for example, by broadening the absorption range, improving the blend morphology or tuning the exciton splitting and charge extraction.

Which organic solar cells have the highest efficiencies?

In addition, our TOSCs also exhibit good thickness tolerance, and can reach 14.23% efficiency even though the active layer is as thick as 300 nm. Nowadays, organic solar cells (OSCs) with Y6 and its derivatives as electron acceptors provide the highest efficiencies among the studied binary OSCs.

Are organic solar cells a viable option?

Research on organic solar cells (OSCs) has been ongoing for more than 40 years now, but owing mainly to advances made in the past decade, they have evolved from being a niche topic to a promising commercial option, with power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) that will exceed 20% in the near future 1, 2, 3.

What is the energy level alignment in a cascade-like ternary organic solar cell?

Fig. 1: Energetic and morphological picture in the cascade model. a, Typical energy level alignment for a cascade-like ternary organic solar cell (TOSC), in which the energy levels of the third component (D 2, red) are located in between those of the donor (D 1, blue) and the acceptor (A, yellow).