Issue 6, 2016

Design principles for block polymer organic double heterojunction solar cells

Abstract

An organic double heterojunction photovoltaic device is described and the limits of its power conversion efficiency are investigated via numerical calculations. In the absence of exciton binding energy, fully conjugated block polymer devices exhibit power conversion efficiencies slightly exceeding the Shockley–Queisser limit. As exciton binding energy increases, a decrease in efficiency occurs, but remains over 20% for binding energies less than 0.5 eV. Further calculations show that devices require a high degree of phase purity to leverage the full benefit of the double heterojunction structure. Synthetic targets are identified and their maximum efficiency is calculated based on experimentally measured energy levels, leading to a generalized structural motif.

Graphical abstract: Design principles for block polymer organic double heterojunction solar cells

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Communication
Submitted
08 Aug 2016
Accepted
16 Sep 2016
First published
16 Sep 2016

Mater. Horiz., 2016,3, 575-580

Design principles for block polymer organic double heterojunction solar cells

M. P. J. Hutnan and L. G. Kaake, Mater. Horiz., 2016, 3, 575 DOI: 10.1039/C6MH00293E

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements