Organic photovoltaics (OPVs): Device physics

Michael A. Fusella, Yun Hui L. Lin, Barry P. Rand

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

Abstract

Solar energy is a vast energy resource that is largely underutilized today. While solar photovoltaics (PVs) have existed for many decades, organic photovoltaics (OPVs) are a relatively new solar cell technology. They possess a number of unique traits that may offer advantages over traditional PV designs in niche applications requiring low fabrication costs, mechanical flexibility, and transparency, among other characteristics. In this chapter, we present the basic working principles and characterization techniques of OPVs, including current voltage and quantum efficiency measurements, and discuss the mechanism of charge photogeneration. The excitonic nature of OPVs makes their operation fundamentally different from conventional inorganic PVs, and so we include a discussion of energy losses, including voltage losses, recombination, and resistance losses, specifically as they pertain to OPVs. Finally, we summarize promising directions for future research and discuss strategies that are utilized in current record-setting OPVs.

Original languageAmerican English
Title of host publicationHandbook of Organic Materials for Electronic and Photonic Devices, Second Edition
PublisherElsevier
Pages665-693
Number of pages29
ISBN (Electronic)9780081022849
ISBN (Print)9780081022856
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 1 2018

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Engineering
  • General Materials Science

Keywords

  • Organic electronics
  • Organic photovoltaic (OPV)
  • Organic solar cell (OSC)
  • Polymer solar cells
  • Renewable energy

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